Stuntikids 2: Battle for Earth
by the Tormentor
Summary: The war between the Autobots and Decepticons rages on as a new relic race begins. The Stuntikids and the Dinobrats are now thrown into the front lines, desperate to let the way for victory to either side. And in the vastness of space, an ancient enemy reveals itself, and a lost hero returns to Cybertron. It's all-out war, but who will survive?
1. The First War

**HERE IT IS PEOPLE! STUNTIKIDS 2!**

 **Finally, after months of hard work at college and finishing my sophomore year, I'm going to be able to get some good fanfics in. With how the Transformers storyline is moving, especially in Robots in Disguise and the IDW comic series, I'm going to be able to have a plethora of good stuff to go on.**

* * *

 _ **The Tormentor presents...**_

 **STUNTIKIDS II: BATTLE FOR EARTH**

 _Last time on Stuntikids, the Decepticons were taking a series of victories over the Autobots. After the Battle of Hawaii, the legendary Warrior Elite Sprawl returns to the Decepticon forces on Earth, leaving behind a trail of carnage that left the Dinobots defeated and broken. While the Decepticons grow in numbers, an army of darkness gathers in space, ready to strike at their enemies and mark their own in the war for Earth._

 _Now, get ready for a new battle..._

 _..._

 _Chapter 1: The First War_

 _Cybertron, over 70 million years ago..._

 _"We're nearly there, Galvatron! Hold the line steady! We must not let the beasts of Onyx get through the Citadel!" Nova Minor roared over the blaster fire, the screams of war across the battlefield were nearly deafening. The war between the Thirteen Primes had escalated into planetary civil war, and now their disciples were paying the ultimate price for their blood-feud. Nova Minor and Galvatron had led their army to the Citadel of Light, where a rumor had circulated that there lay a secret to stopping the world-consuming war._

 _Nova Minor's forces were diminutive compared to the likes of Onyx Prime's bestial creatures or the Headmasters of Nexus Prime. But numbers didn't stop them there. Assisting Nova was Galvatron of the Darklands, who had come to end the civil war not out of necessity for the survival of his race, but out of rage; Galvatron hated the Headmasters, and therefore Nexus Prime, more than anyone. After he had cut a swath of destruction across Cybertron to rid the planet of the Headmasters and the other beasts of Cybertron, he had meet with Nova and his army at the Battle at the Citadel._

 _Galvatron cleaved a Headmaster in two, laughing as he did so. His battleaxe, soaked in energon, sprayed the life fluid across the battlefield. "If only these creatures were as powerful as Nexus bragged on about! Clearly these beasts don't know when they face extinction!" Galvatron was skeptical about the Citadel and even more so about supposed "secrets" but if there were abominations to kill, Galvatron would be there._

 _"Dammit! We've got Predacons incoming!" One of Nova Minor's soldiers yelled out, pointing her finger at the huge swarm of flying metal beasts soaring towards them._

 _Galvatron grinned. A challenge had finally come. "Nova, take the battle to the Headmasters! The Predacons are mine!" And with that, Galvatron transformed and burst through the decaying armies of Headmasters towards the Predacon fleet. Nova watched as his new friend zoomed towards the beast, almost seeming suicidal._

 _"Is he going to be okay, Nova?" One of his soldiers asked._

 _"He'll be fine. Trust me." Nova replied and fired at a Headmaster that got too close. But as the body died, the head transformed and lunged at him, but Nova was quicker and tore the creature in two. Nova could see that his forces, small as they were, were tearing through the lines of the Headmasters with ease. The Citadel seemed untouched by the battle, a sign that this was the final beacon of hope on Cybertron._

 _Galvatron, some distance away from the battle, transformed out of his huge tank form and bellowed at the sky._

 _"FACE ME, BEASTS OF ONYX! FALL LIKE YOUR CREATOR DID BEFORE YOU!" The barbarian whipped out his battleaxe and pounded it against his chest as the mighty Predacons landed with powerful slams against the war-torn grounds. Galvatron smirked as the leader of this posse, a dragon colored blazing orange and jet black, hoisted a sword made of fire. Flanking him were four other beasts, each one of different size and strength._

 _"I see the Great Cataclysm hasn't halted your evolutionary processes, servants of Onyx." Galvatron spat._

 _"And I know who you are, Galvatron of the Darklands." The leader spoke up. "I, am Predaking. And the Citadel is of Prima's domain, not yours. The Predacons are the rightful inheritors of the palace, and of it's secrets! Now, face your doom, servant of Megatronus! Skylynx, Darksteel, kill him!" Predaking ordered his two foremost minions with the point of his sword at Galvatron._

 _"Let's gut him like a newt, Darksteel!" Skylynx rushed towards the barbarian, his companion smiling a twisted grin as they prepared their claws to tear apart Galvatron._

 _"I DO NOT BOW TO PRIMES!" Galvatron roared and swung his ax against the two Predacons, nicking Darksteel's armor but cleanly slicing through Skylynx's chest. While it wasn't enough to kill the Predacon, it was certainly enough for the big brute to falter. While Skylynx held back to clutch the wound that Galvatron had given him, Darksteel had covered the distance between him and the barbarian and began his assault. The Predacon's massive claws slashed across Galvatron's chest, in rebuttal for what he did to his brethren. With a cry, Galvatron smashed the end of his ax at Darksteel's face and smashed his right optic like cheap glass. Yellow fluid exploded out of the damaged optic as Darksteel tried to regain his composure._

 _But Galvatron would have none of it. Darksteel's forearm was immediately lopped off by a sudden swing of Galvatron's ax, and the Predacon would have meet his maker as Galvatron swung his ax down on Darksteel's head, but was stopped by the sudden reintroduction of Skylynx slamming into the barbarian. The impact slapped away Galvatron's weapon and Skylynx went to town on him, whaling blows on his large purple chassis, inflicting huge amounts of damage. Suddenly Galvatron grabbed the arm that was about claw his armor and crushed it, and at the same time he slammed his antimatter fusion cannon at Skylynx's shoulder and fired, utterly obliterating the extremity. Skylynx howled in pain and rage and tried to regain the fight. Darksteel slashed his claws at Galvatron's side, knocking him away._

 _"I'll tear you apart!" Darksteel snarled out viciously and lunged at Galvatron, only for the barbarian to swiftly kick the Predacon aside, grab his battleaxe and make a beeline for the wounded Skylynx, who was caught by surprise. The unfortunate Predacon could only watch as Galvatron cleaved his head off with a mighty swing, felling the Predacon. Predaking watched in shock as his soldier was slain by Galvatron, but soon turned to horror as the barbarian rounded towards Darksteel and began to hack the Predacon to death._

 _Energon and pieces of protoform splattered across both Galvatron and the land around him as he finished his bloody mess by ripping off Darksteel's head and tossing it towards Predaking. The mighty Predacon leader stared down his brethren's decapitated head and leered at Galvatron, unwilling to show his sudden fear to the barbarian. But as he came to attack his aggressor, he saw the forces of Nova rushing to help their ally. The Headmaster army, once awesome in number, had fallen to Nova's soldiers, and now they were coming to finish their job on the small Predacon posse._

 _Knowing that he and his brethren would certainly die, Predaking swallowed his pride and turned to his troops._

 _"We're leaving this battle."_

 _"But Predaking! Our brothers, Skylynx and Darksteel-!" One of Predaking's minions cried out, surprised that his king was ordering them to flee._

 _"We will join them if we stay here! Now leave, and do not question me again!" The Predacons were quick to escape the incoming wrath of Galvatron, but Predaking stayed just long enough to shoot a killer glare at Galvatron. "This isn't over, barbarian." And with that, the dragon took off back to where they came from. Galvatron peppered the air with cannonfire, but was stopped by Nova._

 _"Let them flee, Galvatron. We have won this battle, and we will win that one soon enough." Nova put a hand to Galvatron's cannon, and the barbarian relented his weapon down. Seeing that they were victorious, it was time to investigate the Citadel of Light and find out just what this secret was all about. Nova led the way to the massive bronze double-door, and opened it with a heavy shove. The doors themselves creaked loudly, as if they hadn't been used in eons._

 _As Nova, Galvatron and the others entered the Citadel, they couldn't help but awe in sight of what lay before them. Utterly untouched by the war outside, the Citadel shined brightly inside, illuminated by the lights that glimmered on the floor. Massive engravings made entirely of gold stood proud on the walls of the Citadel, telling tales of old. Each of them seemed to show a Prime, a member of the Thirteen, holding something up to the sky, were it the Requiem Blaster for Megatronus, or the Forge for Solus Prime. Nova's troops were entranced by the imagery, but Nova and Galvatron wondered if there was a reason behind all this glorifying. Right in front of them lay an energon fountain that still functioned, to which Galvatron stayed to grab a handful and sucked down greedily. After all, he needed some refreshment._

 _"It's like the whole war skipped this place over." One of Nova soldiers gushed out, forgetting his place and laying a hand on the engrave. "This is beautiful."_

 _"And we saved this damn place. I hope they got a bar or something, I'm parched." Another one of Nova's men rasped out, clutching a broken rifle._

 _"Nova! Over here!" Another soldier called out, this time pointing towards an open hallway that they accidentally skipped over. "You have to see this!"_

 _Nova entered the hallway, only realizing now that the soldier was talking about what lay beyond. Inside the Citadel lay a massive library, each archive must have reached over a hundred feet tall at the least, filled to the brim with untold information. Huge ornate decorations covered the library's ceiling and floor with stars, planets and galaxies of swirling colors. At the foremost of the library after at least a dozen shelves was a huge telescope, pointing towards the pale orange sky of Cybertron's sunset. Small, X-shaped drones littered the air, some carrying datapads and others just going about their business. One of Nova's soldiers reached out to touch a drone that had gotten close, but was stopped by Nova grabbing her arm._

 _"Careful." He chided his soldier. "We don't know if they possess offensive capabilities."_

 _"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that." A voice, soft and gentle, rang out inside the library. Nova's troops pointed their weapons in all directions, not knowing where the voice had come from. Nova remained calm. This voice had no malicious intent and seemed too meek to issue any sort of threat here._

 _"Who are you?" Nova asked the voice._

 _"The real question is, who are_ you? _" The voice rebutted._

 _"I am Nova Minor, Commander of the Free People of Cybertron! We have come seeking the key to stopping the war and ending this needless bloodshed." Nova told the voice. For a few moments of silence, footsteps could be heard from one of the aisles. Nova pointed his cannons to where he could here them coming closer. His soldiers did the same._

 _The source of the footsteps finally made himself known. The mystery mech was small in stature, about three quarters of Nova's height and far thinner. This mech was clearly a librarian or some sort of office worker. His chassis was colored a rich red-purple with gold inlays that were engraved with cyberglyphs and other sorts of imagery. In his hands was a small stack of datapads that he was probably going to put away but was interrupted by his new guests. On his back was a short cape, colored a deep black with gold trims. His yellow optics shined brightly towards Nova, probably relieved that it were fellow Cybertronians that had intruded his study._

 _"My apologies, Nova Minor." He bowed slightly downwards as a sign of respect. "I had to take precautions in case of any true enemies of Cybertron coming to steal our secret. I know I can trust you." The mystery mech's soft voice was smooth on Nova's receptors._

 _"How so?" Nova asked._

 _"You asked to end the war to stop the killing. You made no demands for me to hand it over, and did not specify that you were going to use it to vanquish your enemies. Rather, you would use it to stop the bloodshed and save as many people as you could." The mech explained with great vigor, fully trusting Nova. The commander himself seemed overwhelmed with the mech's honest attitude. "Oh, where are my manners, I haven't even introduced myself."_

 _The mech cleared his throat. "My name is Apocrypha, head librarian of the Citadel of Light. I welcome you here, Nova Minor, for you have come to seek what shall end this war." The newly named Apocrypha spoke to Nova._

 _"This had better be worth it librarian." Galvatron made his presence known to Apocrypha, who seemed unperturbed by the barbarian's rude behavior. Galvatron had just arrived to hear the librarian's name being announced after he had washed his battleaxe in the energon fountain. He was totally unimpressed with Apocrypha's frail physique and was quickly losing patience with both the librarian and this quest. Were he in charge, we would have preferred to have taken the "secret" and use it to hunt down the remaining beasts on Cybertron._

 _"It shall, Galvatron of the Darklands. Please, follow me." Apocrypha bowed and walked off, no doubt going to where the secret lay. Galvatron outright ignored the fact that the librarian knew him beforehand. Before following Apocrypha, Nova had one more issue to command._

 _"Galvatron, you're with me. The rest of you, stay here. If we don't come back before the moons of Cybertron rise, then you have my permission to burn this place down and take the secret." Nova ordered his troops, who nodded in response. He went to follow the strange mech, Galvatron right behind him, and came around a sharp left where Apocrypha was pushing aside a fake archive, revealing a secret door. A quick twist on the triple-dial lock and the door creaked open._

 _"Apologies again for the secrecy, Nova. I had to make sure that the enemy forces of the Primes would not be able to track you." Apocrypha explained as he took a torch, brimming with blue fire, and began to walk in the deep dark of his hidden place. "With most of Primes fleeing Cybertron after the death of Nexus, and by your own hands Galvatron, most of their forces went on the offensive to safeguard their legacy. Cybertron suffered for their violence. When my hidden treasure was leaked, I feared the worst was to come. Apparently, Primus was indeed on my side."_

 _"We were simply better." Galvatron huffed, trying to divert the conversation away from anything too religious._

 _Nova had turned his headlights on to see the way while Galvatron stuck close to the librarian. At the end of the hallway, there was a door covered in cobwebs. Nova and Galvatron looked at each other skeptically. If there was a secret, then there was no telling how long it had awaited being used. Apocrypha said nothing as he yanked the foremost knob and opened the second secret compartment; a very open garden of various flora that once existed all over Cybertron, ranging from the smallest flower to the tallest tree. In the middle of the garden was a femme, larger than her mate, who was decorated in bright blue armor and white stripes reaching down her arms and legs. Her crimson optics shined dully, contrary to her brightly colored body._

 _But at her side stood a mechling. He seemed to be very young, barely into his coming of ages. He was far stranger than the femme that stood beside him, holding his hand as she talked to him in a hushed whisper. His angular, jagged body was entirely chrome, with some spots made of the deepest black and stainless steel. Large white biolights shined on his body, small as it was, which reflected his colorless optics. Nova could only guess to what the mechling transformed into._

 _"Chronix, we have guests." Apocrypha said to the femme. "Nova, Galvatron, this is my wife Chronix, timekeeper of the Citadel and head gardener."_

 _"A pleasure." She bowed before the two. "Such an honor to meet the mech leading the Free People of Cybertron, and the great barbarian." Nova nodded with respect while Galvatron basked in his own glow. Chronix giggled as she saw how the barbarian was readily soaking up the attention. "Oh, you two must be here for the "great treasure" as my husband calls it."_

 _"Yes." Nova said._

 _"Then you shall have it." Chronix said. "And here he is." The gardener gestured with an open hand to the young mechling, who was currently rummaging through a crate to grab a telescope and set it on one of the moss-covered rocks. Nova raised an optic ridge, while Galvatron let out a heinous snort._

 _"The treasure is a child?" Galvatron scoffed. "Then we have come here for nothing."_

 _"Oh, my son is more than just a child. Dear, would you come over here to meet our guests?" Chronix turned the chrome mechling, who said nothing as he put away the telescope he had set up not a minute before and walked over. His bright optics never blinked as he focused his attention on Nova Minor. The commander found himself staring back into those optics. He could feel something within this mechling that he hadn't felt in a long time. He stood there by his creator's side, silent as the grave. Nova knew that the child was waiting to be talked to, rather than being shy._

 _"Tell me mechling, what is your name?" Nova bent down to get a better angle on the face of his new treasure. The mechling stared at Nova for a while, pursing behind a black mouthplate, and finally spoke in a crystal clear voice._

 _"My name is Sprawl."_

 _..._

 _Earth, present day..._

"So how many relics are there on Earth in total, really? I mean, there's gotta be at least a couple dozen here on Earth. And who's to say that there isn't any more across the galaxy? So far all we've found are some neat gadgets and knick-knacks that we can only use once." A clear female voice said.

"True, but we gotta get what we can, right? Can't leave Earth for the Autobots to snatch up everything." A male voice responded back.

It was here that the Decepticons called home, the _Nemesis._ The gargantuan warship was their home away from home when the war for Cybertron took the planet to beyond destruction and further into death. Now, their war reached beyond their own system, stretching beyond the stars that once littered the skies of Cybertron. Here, on Earth, is where the war was now focused, for the green and blue world had more to it than meets the eye.

And it was here that the Decepticons, the Autobots, and the war itself changed forever.

Ethan and Samantha, two of the five human Decepticons that called themselves the Stuntikids, were currently discussing the values of chasing after the relics that had been hidden on their own world for so long.

Ethan Bain, the team medic and grade-A New York City apostle, was the most affected out of the Stuntikids due to the war. In the early days of enlistment, he lost his left arm in a battle between his guardian and some of the Autobots. And while it was one of the most traumatizing things to ever happen to him, he took advantage of his new-found disability and used it to help create his signature feature; the robotic arm that housed all of his medical supplies. The boy was spunky, kind and was never one to back down to any challenges that life had thrown at him. He was quick to make friends on the warship, especially with Samantha.

Samantha Bono is the Stuntikid scouter and the fastest human on the warship out of the five. Unlike Ethan, she never lost any limbs in a battle. She was too quick to be caught in the crossfire. A lifetime of running track and field along with heavy cross-country in her home state of Texas built up Samantha's stamina to astonishing levels, impressing her guardian with her seemingly endless speed. When she wasn't running, she was racing, a former underground street racer at that who made friends with anyone she meet with her jovial attitude and deep care for her friends. Her appetite for speed gave her plenty of friends on the warship, including Ethan.

Needless to say, the two were best of friends and stuck to the hip.

"You never know what we'll get next, E." Samantha said as she playfully punched his shoulder. "It might be a laser death-cannon, or a teleporter!"

"Or just another trinket, like the polarity gauntlet that we risked our lives for, only to realize that the thing had a dead battery." Ethan sarcastically replied with a roll of his eyes. He had reason to be salty about the "relic race", as he called it. Many times he and his guardian would venture to the wilds of Earth and return with either it being stolen from the Autobots or something entirely not useful towards the war.

"Just because you found a Cybertronian sex toy in one pod, _one,_ " She accented her point by pointing a finger at him, "doesn't mean that this whole thing is bogus." Samantha argued.

"Do you know how damn _awkward_ that was between me and Wildrider?! Granted, I knew what it was and so did she, but we had to bring that thing to the Decepticons because the Autobots didn't even want it!" Ethan shuddered. "God, seeing those _stares_ that the Autobots gave us makes my brain wrinkle. And then Wildrider made it worse when she tried to attack Broadside with it and that was... hmph." Ethan shook his head, trying to forget that cringe-worthy memory.

"We've made off with other relics before, right?" Samantha asked. "And some of them are pretty cool."

Ethan was silent, but then shrugged. "Yeah, the tesla bomb was pretty rad."

"See?" Samantha nudged him playfully. "It ain't so bad. You gotta be lucky."

"Someone said lucky?" The two turned their heads to see their guardians smiling down at them, leaning against a wall.

Drag Strip, the former Ibex 5000 champion, is a member of the Stunticons and the fastest Decepticon on wheels. A lifetime of racing against some of the most brutal racing challenges has fine-toned his racing skills. Samantha and him have a relationship based on street racing and other means of speed against the law. He doesn't mind letting her take the wheel every once in a while, but prefers to drive himself. Drag Strip, because of his need for speed, chose the fastest land vehicle he could find; a Formula-1 race car. He is also the second in command of the Stunticons.

Next to him was Wildrider, the sole female of the Stunticons. She was the team medic, in training of course. As crazy as they come and with a love for thrills and spills, how she found herself as the medic was not her doing; rather Megatron forced her to take the mantle after a few too many biting remarks on the current CMO Flatline, who she was now working under as an apprentice. Ethan and Wildrider are incredibly close, with an "older sister, younger brother" sort of relationship. To keep up with her antics of being a bit of a psycho and keeping her eye-catching curvaceous form together, she had chosen the Ferrari Laferrari, because it looked cool and sounded funny.

"Yeah, me and E were talkin' about the relics that we found." The young girl said as the two Decepticons joined in on the conversation.

"Pft. You call that _luck?_ That's pure timing." Drag Strip bragged, while Wildrider gave him a look that said otherwise. "Oh, and by the way, Megatron was looking for you two. It seems we've all got something to get now that Soundwave's got us a whole slew of new scrap to get." Drag Strip and Wildrider transformed and opened their doors, and their respective charges got in, and they speed off to the bridge.

...

The _Nemesis_ flew steadily over the harsh oceans of the Pacific, undeterred by the weather that was happening around it. The large viewing screens at the front of the bridge gave anyone in the room a glance outside, which was covered in gray storm clouds and the occasional flash of lightning. It was here that most of the Decepticon commanders were often seen, either going about their business by managing whatever they could in their time. Many of the drones and soldiers were typing away on the consoles behind the elevated walkway, which lead to the command module, where Soundwave himself was seen typing the coordinates for the next set of relics awaiting to be captured.

Behind him stood Turmoil, the huge brown and silver tank-former who had arrived on Earth not too long ago with his own cadre of troops. He had been promoted to second in Command of the Decepticons here on Earth when he had arrived, outranking the now Air Commander Starscream. The latter, of course, threw a fit but was relieved that he was still in charge of anything in the air. Speaking of Starscream, he was talking to the rest of the flying troops of the Decepticons.

Among them was Thundercracker and Skywarp, who had come when Megatron issued the call for reinforcements over three years ago. Standing with them was Dropkick and Fearswoop, who came with Turmoil. Dropkick was Turmoil's second in command plus a very skilled marksman, and Fearswoop was a Predator, and an expert in stealth technology.

And standing at the very center of it all, was the femme who started it all. Megatron, Empress of Destruction, Master of the Decepticons, her empire of purple raging across the stars in her name. It was until recently that Megatron revealed that she was in fact a femme in disguise, spurred on by a rather personal talk between her, Soundwave and one of the Stuntikids. This sudden revelation didn't change much in the Decepticons, but there was still no word on how the Autobots were taking this information. And she probably didn't care. Megatron was too concerned about winning the war than be worried about how the Autobots would react to her revealed gender.

She turned her head towards the sounds of roaring engines to see that Drag Strip and Wildrider have arrived on time, and opened the doors to reveal that Ethan and Samantha had come along as she had ordered. Good. Their commander, who was standing aside with the two others, watched on as they walked over to their group.

Bridgette Ramsey, leader of the Stuntikids at twenty years old, is a woman that is driven by the power of success. For years she has lead the Stuntikids with her "Never Say Die" attitude and unwillingness to give up, and for that she has earned her spot among the Decepticon army. Decked out in total punk outfit, from the baggy cargo pants, the loose tank-top and the purple-colored mohawk on her head, her appearance, her strength and her temper has kept the Stuntikids in line and formed them to who they were now. Without her, they would have probably been dead or gone. Her skills as a mechanic also put her on favor with the Stunticon leader Motormaster, who viewed his charge as an impromptu niece.

Standing beside her was the charge of Breakdown, Holly Griffin, the team bruiser and one of the most vicious people on the _Nemesis._ Growing up as a street fighter, Holly was also an excellent pyrotechnic. The scars dazzling her face showed that her time as a brawler hadn't come off easy. She always kept her hair short, never once allowing any sort of advantage to her prey. Her usual attire was something out of eastern Europe, with black and white tracksuits usually seen on her. She and Breakdown were pretty close, telling each other stories of their times as fighters. Respect between the two was very high.

Lastly, the final member of the Stuntikids was Zoey Cordovas, a Puerto Rican raised in Mexico who was from an incredibly poor family who spent what little money they could on booze, sex and frivolities. The situation between being abused by her mother and brother, and ignored by her own father, was too much to bear for the now pre-teen. But, as fate would allow it, she was given a second chance in the name of the resident nihilist Dead End, who found her and coaxed her into joining the Decepticons. Since then, Zoey and Dead End have with each other ever since. Many speculate that Zoey reminds Dead End of his daughter, who he lost during the first years of the war, which turned him into a fatalist mope.

"My Lady." Both of the newcomers spoke and bowed at the same time.

"What do you require of us?" Samantha asked.

Megatron huffed, "The next set of Iacon relics have been decoded. Soundwave has been gracious enough to provide us with a plethora of fortunes waiting to be found."

"So let's get 'em then." Ethan said, trying to back up his own ego. He wanted to find something useful for once. "It's not like the Autobots haven't thought of the same thing."

"Take heed, boy." Megatron said again. "While there is a good amount of relics to be found and contained, we cannot be rushing off to secure them. We must use tact and efficiency, something the Autobots also have." Megatron nodded to Soundwave, who then typed in something on the keyboard. "The first three relics have been uncovered, their locations scattered across the globe and will require our forces to divide and conquer."

Suddenly, the main viewing screen blinked twice and a holographic scene of the whole Earth was on. Each of the Decepticons were busy eyeing the sudden start of their missions, their optics open and eager.

"The first is located in this region," The massive screen zeroed in on the South American continent, with the indicator pointing at the heart of the Amazon. "Based on earlier scouting parties, the jungle here is too dense for anyone of our size to fit. So, boy, this is where you and your friend come in. Ethan and Samantha, you will be dropped here in this Amazon forest by Sprawl once he is repaired. You are to find wherever the relic is, secure it and bring it back. If you encounter any Autobots, you radio for Sprawl and he will deal with them, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." The two saluted.

"Excellent. Turmoil you and your team are assigned to this location here." The globe turned up and pointed at the island of Nova Scotia, where the indicator was pointing at the shoreline. "Given that you're more experienced, I have faith that you will not fail me."

"Not at all, my lady." Turmoil bowed.

"Good. Finally, Wildrider and Airachnid." The two other femmes in the room looked up. "The last relic is hidden somewhere in this city." The screen pointed to the city-state of Hong Kong, located in Southeast Asia. "Thanks to the intense human population you will have to enter this in disguise. Wildrider, you will scour the ground while Airachnid will see to the air. I don't care how long it takes you, find this relic and bring it back to us. Understood?"

"Yep. We won't let ya' down." Wildrider answered, and Airachnid merely shrugged.

"See to it that you don't. You are dismissed, Decepticons." And with that, the bridge emptied out most of the Decepticons, retreating back to what they were originally doing. The only ones who had stayed were Megatron and Soundwave. The warlord stared into the stormy skies of Earth, silent in front of the raging storm. Soundwave instantly knew, plus with help from some minor telepathy, that she was thinking heavily about something.

"The Decepticons are changing Soundwave." Megatron finally spoke, albeit softly. "I... _we_ are changing. I can feel it. We're becoming something more than just an army, and the others are now looking at me without vicious distaste or fear." She clutched her fist. "I don't know why, but it pleases me to have an increase in loyalty among the troops. I am Lord Megatron, and the fear that I used to rule the Decepticons with is being replaced with respect. Is it because of my gender, or is it because of... the humans?" She guessed wildly. Truthfully, she didn't know just what was causing the increase in morale and probably hoped Soundwave would provide an answer.

" _FEAR... REPLACED..."_ Soundwave replied via playback. " _RESPECT... INCREASE."_

"I understand that Soundwave." Megatron said. "I want to know _why._ "

"My Lady." She turned to see Flatline standing behind her, clutching a datapad. "It's Sprawl. He's awake."

...

"How long was I out for, Knockout?"

"Give or take a couple days or so. Frankly, I'm surprised you were still in one piece when you got on the warship, those dastardly Dinobots and their pets nearly tore you apart. That is, until you decided to turn the tables."

Sprawl tilted his head.

"Oh _come_ **on** , Sprawl. Surely you remember laying a total smackdown on Grimlock, don't you?" Knockout laughed as he took a sip of energon. "It's all over the warship on the local hub." Knockout waved the datapad that he was holding up and down. The Warrior Elite looked away in mild amusement. Leave it to his fellow Decepticons to take a small victory and overblow it. From the way Knockout said it, it had sounded like he had beaten Optimus Prime in a game of arm wrestling.

Sprawl would have commented on the matter were it not for Megatron to enter. And while he was still on a berth to tend to some of his more grievous wounds, he still tried to make sure to salute her, only to realize that he couldn't move his arms. They had some sort of connector tubes lined to a large machine that was being tinkered on by Shockwave. Sprawl gazed at the device and shrugged. He knew what Shockwave was doing; hijacking some of the blueprints of weaponry that he stored in his head.

"How are you feeling Sprawl?" Megatron asked.

"I'm feeling better, my Lady." Sprawl answered, and unplugged himself from Shockwave's machine. "When is my next mission?"

The warlord chuckled. _Always ready to put himself on the front lines,_ she thought. While he was rather eager, it was probably him being cooped up in the med-bay for so long that he wanted to be out on the field, doing something other than sitting down. The black and chrome Decepticon stood high as he awaited his orders, looking down at Megatron.

"You are to transport two of the Stuntikids towards the next designated target. The Iacon relic-"

"Pardon me, my Lady," Sprawl interrupted and holding up his hands, "but don't you mean Stunti _cons?_ Surely Motormaster could just initiate-"

"I know what I meant Sprawl." She said more fiercely, stopping the Warrior Elite's talk. "Allow me to introduce two of our newest attributes to the Decepticon armada; Ethan and Samantha." Megatron gestured downwards to the floor, where Sprawl saw two _humans_ standing beside her, a male and a female. Internally, he groaned. He was just about done with Earth's dominant species and wasn't in the mood to deal with any more of them, considering the most contact he ever had with humans was with the Dinobrats, and they weren't so kind to him. That, and considering he hadn't even told Megatron about the DJD rescuing him and their own human army.

He could tell her later.

Before Sprawl could say anything, Megatron spoke. "I understand that your past relationships with humans is less than stellar, but they were Autobots. These are our own troops, as Decepticons. They are your allies." It was apparent that Sprawl was having none of it. After all, he had been tortured by humans days ago and for far longer when he was an Autobot prisoner.

"They all look the damn same." Sprawl said quietly, but full of displeasure.

"Hey, big guy." Sprawl looked down to see that the human female, the one with the golden hair, was talking to him. "We haven't done anything wrong to you. How about a better introduction, hmm? I'm Samantha, Samantha Bono, to be precise. I'm a Stuntikid. The dude next to me is Ethan Bain, also a Stuntikid. We've been with the Decepticons for about three years now, pushing our fourth. Sprawl is your name, right?" Samantha stuck out her hand for Sprawl to shake, and the giant Decepticon leaned down to catch it with a single finger. This seemed to please the Warrior Elite.

"It seems that some of your kind is redeemable." Sprawl admonished to Megatron. "They are well behaved, and clean, unlike the Dinobots human pets. And I am to believe that the Stuntikids are a joint branch of the Stunticons, or is it something else?"

"We work with the Stunticons because they're our guardians." Ethan spoke up. "My guardian is Wildrider, and Samantha's is Drag Strip."

"Fitting." Sprawl nodded. "So, the mission? I am to transport these creatures to where?"

"The Amazon." Ethan said, and continued. "A huge rainforest in the middle of Brazil. Apparently there's a relic in there somewhere. I think you're connected to our internet, you should look it up."

And Sprawl did. The first image that was brought up was the scale of the forest as seen from space, which seemed to cover the entire upper half of the South American continent. He couldn't believe the scale of this gargantuan forest, just how were two kids supposed to find anything in something that immense was beyond him.

"And don't worry, we have a general idea about where it is." Ethan waved off Sprawl's concerns.

"I have to worry; I'm transporting fellow Decepticons to whereabouts that I have never visited."

Ethan and Samantha chuckled at Sprawl.

"I'm serious."

...

Turmoil leaned over the terminal where Dropkick was currently pulling up all of the information that he could about Nova Scotia; the weather, human populace, anything that could be of use. Unlike the Stuntikids and Sprawl, who were going in head-first, Turmoil was being a bit more tactical by collecting information. It would help in the long run when he would encounter Autobots, and he knew that he would. No doubt that they have the same relics in mind.

"This Nova Scotia seems pretty ordinary, Turmoil. There's a somewhat large human population on the island, but where we're going we probably won't encounter anything. And since the spring season of Earth is in effect, it's going to be nice and cool up there." Dropkick explained carefully.

"Good work Dropkick. Call for Skywarp and Breakdown. They'll be useful on this mission as well."

"Whatever you say, Commander."

Turmoil turned to leave, but remembered something else. "And tell Breakdown to bring his human pet. I want to see if they really are as hyped up as they say."

...

Airachnid would never say it out loud under pain of death, but she was rather happy to be on a mission with Wildrider. Having to deal with all sorts of trouble from her male comrades and just the general atmosphere of the _Nemesis_ , going to a human city with her good friend was too enticing to pass up. Sure, the Stunticon was utterly batshit insane, but she was fun to hang around with. Plus, Wildrider was excellent at playing decoy, baiting out the enemy and leaving the spider to pick up the victory. Wildrider didn't mind, as long as the Decepticons won at the end.

Speaking of the Ferrari, she was currently discussing something with her buddy Breakdown in the open hanger. The two of them were in front of the ground-bridge control, Wildrider screaming at Breakdown's face.

"And Sprawl's going to take care of them, right? You better make him cross his spark that he'll protect my little dude or else-!" Wildrider seemed slightly livid that her human boy was going on a mission without her, and Breakdown was the one who was being chewed out.

"They'll be fine, alright?" Breakdown reasoned. "I'm not the one you should be yelling at! Sprawl's the one who's going to help them, and I'm going with Holly on a mission with Turmoil. You don't see Drag Strip having a hissy fit."

"That's because he doesn't care about Ethan like I do!" Wildrider screamed and threw her arms up.

"Trouble in the family, Wildrider?" Airachnid spoke, alerting the two that the spider was nearby. "I heard that a certain Warrior Elite is getting some human help."

"It's so stupid!" Wildrider raged and gripped her horns. "Why can't he come with me? Ethan and I **always** go on missions together!"

"Perhaps it's time for your precious little bro to be a big man and do something on his own for once? Let me be clear, I don't exactly care about any of the Stuntikids but I see over-protectiveness when I see it." Airachnid said, and the Stunticon she was talking to felt her mouth drop to the floor. "I suggest you give Ethan some breathing room and let him go solo for a little while, okay 'Rider?"

Wildrider was finally starting to see reason, and huffed out a quiet, "Fine."

"There we go." Airachnid cheered. "Breakdown, be a dear and open the ground bridge for us? We've got a relic to secure."


	2. Hong Kong Con

_-Hong Kong-_

The night life of the city-state of Hong Kong shined the beautiful outline of the city, skyscrapers and the shimmering orange glow of the retreating sun on the water and the glass. A slight breeze blew across the bay and provided the city people a nice relief before heading off to home. In a dark alley behind a building, where trash cans and the occasional cat would stray, a green vortex opened and two occupants fell out.

"So, Hong Kong. " Wildrider said and crouched low to the ground. "Gotta stay sneaky, Airachnid. It's the two of us gals against millions of humans here."

"As much as I would love to gut and hang the residents, let's just stick to our job, shall we?" Airachnid spoke, taking charge of the situation. "I'll get in the air, see if we can get a signal out of the relic. With all the humans, it's going to take some time." Airachnid used the relic finder, a small device with a radar blip to map out the city and the relic. Their current position revealed nothing but more human static. With the sunset incoming, she'll be fine in the air. A quick scan of the sky showed plenty of helicopters up above the skyscrapers of Hong Kong.

"I'll stick to the streets, Air. Don't you worry about me." Wildrider smiled, gave a thumbs up, and peeled out of there. "Hey, how about a race? Whoever finds the relic first gets half of the other gal's rations for a week!"

Airachnid smirked. A challenge was always fun. "You're on, Stunticon."

Wildrider had gotten a head start into the city, easily swerving into the traffic of Hong Kong. Airachnid transformed and flew up, rising above the buildings to get a good view. With the wind howling from the ocean, Airachnid had to keep clear of the open air unless she wanted to be pushed around by the weather, and so stuck close to buildings to avoid getting drafted. The glowing neon lights below glimmered underneath her chassis, and she couldn't imagine what it was like on the streets. There must be millions of humans crammed into this glass cage they called a city. Airachnid had reached near the capital building before her tracker picked up something on the radar.

"Wildrider, I've got something." She said to her friend via radio. "Looks like our relic's somewhere in that building on the shore." Airachnid eyed the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, near the shore of the city. A small blip, so that must mean that the relic might be something either small or weak from being active for so long, right underneath the human's noses.

 _"I'm on my way, Air."_ The Stunticon responded and she could hear the roar of her engines through the radio.

Airachnid just hoped that she got to the relic first, before any Autobots got any wise ideas.

...

The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center was filled to the brim with people dressed in strange, bright eccentric clothing. Many of them toted swords and other weapons, all of them fake. Both the men and women had dressed up for one single purpose, and that was highlighted on the gigantic pink banner that showed a good collection of cartoon characters with beautiful eyes, and rather large boobs.

"Oh my Primus, why is there an anime-con right now?" Wildrider pulled into the nearby parking lot to search for a spot, only to realize she might as well be searching for a needle in a haystack. The lot was full of cars from vans to buses to rinky-dink junkers that should have been scrapped half a decade ago.

 _"You_ know _what that mess is?"_ Airachnid said through radio link. She had just arrived over the scene to put herself on a nearby skyscraper and saw the mass horde of strangely-dresses humans enter into the Exhibition Center. She was keeping out of sight, and granted nobody had the right idea to look up and see her. Airachnid had equipped a pair of binoculars just make sure that she had a good view of what was going on down there. If they were going to find the relic, then entering that sweaty horde would be the only way in.

"Um, E and I watch anime sometimes. And _don't_ tell Drag Strip that!" Wildrider would have blushed if she had transformed.

 _"I'll just save that information for when the time comes, 'Rider. Speaking of time, we need to get in there if we're gonna grab the relic before any Autobot comes along and - wait."_ Airachnid suddenly stopped speaking, her vision turned down the road where she was seeing some familiar vehicles drive down the road. Two Lamborghini's, one colored red and another gold, and a pink and white Mercedes-Benz. They were barely a kilometer away from the relic's hideout, and Wildrider had just found a parking spot that was kind of close to the Center.

"Airachnid, the only reason you stop talking is when things go bad. What's going on?" Wildrider asked nervously into the radio link.

 _"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Elita-One are heading your way."_ Airachnid reported, and the Stunticon felt her spark freeze. Against the Terror Twins, she could probably hold her own, but against the Commander of the Female Autobots she'd be flattened. All she had to do was keep out of sight, and out of mind. If they didn't attack her, she wouldn't attack them. _"I think it's time we got in there."_

"Totally." Emerging from the LaFerrari was Wildrider's hard-light avatar. She stood about 5'9" with the combat boots she wore, along with the rest of her outfit she looked like a total greaser. Leather jacket with chrome buttons, red and black cargo pants and hair styled short with red and black highlights. Her hair above the ears stuck out like horns, and her bust easily reached double-D's. And she had to act quick as well. Elita and the Twins would find her eventually and she needed to get in the anime-con now or never. She knew that getting in would be troublesome because she didn't have a ticket, but a quick scan from one of the supervisors and she had on a VIP pass dangling from her neck as she neared the entrance, walking as fast as she could.

 _"Excuse me, pardon me!"_ Wildrider said in Cantonese, easily downloading the language from the internet. _"VIP pass here, 'scuse me weebs."_

One of the security guards took Wildrider's fake pass and scanned it, and the scanner beeped green. _"Alright get in lady."_

 _"Thank you!"_ Wildrider nodded and shoved in, nearly knocking over the guard. As her internal scanners took a quick run-down of the place, the relic seemed to be located in the bottom floor, where there was a toy exhibition. Wildrider ran down a flight of stair, and decided to have some style and slid down on the rails, did a flip and basked in her own glow. Passerby's mouths dropped open at the scene of a crazy girl doing flips in the toy exhibit for fun. Wildrider easily soaked in the attention, but the relic was more of a priority. Passing shelves of models from _Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Voltron_ and other anime stuff, Wildrider had to resist pocketing all of these toys to show off to Ethan and focus on finding the relic.

 _"Elita just entered, 'Rider!"_ Clanging metal echoed from Airachnid's end when she radioed the Stunticon. A series of "Scrapping bitch!" and laser fire also followed. _"I'm dealing with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, just grab the damn thing and hurry!"_

"On it." Wildrider answered and hurried, the signal of the relic getting faster and faster. And sure enough, she spied Elita in her own hardlight form walking in the exhibit. Her striking pink hair, along with cream and white jacket and clear white pants were a dead giveaway that the commander was indeed here. Thankfully, she hadn't spied Wildrider yet, and so she still had the advantage.

The beeping reached a point where it was just a constant ringing, and Wildrider knew she was there. The only thing in front of her was the storage room, which probably lead to more stuff being towed in for fans to buy. Taking a quick look-around to see if there were any guard, Wildrider thanked Primus she was in the clear and entered swiftly, making sure to not draw attention.

"Whoa." Wildrider said. The storage room was immense, there must have been at least a hundred boxes full of random stuff. Find the relic just got a little harder, or at least it would have were it not for two men carrying a box to pass in front of her. The Stunticon swiftly ducked behind the cover of other stacks of boxes and listened to what they were saying.

 _"Where'd you find this thing, anyway?"_ One of them complained, straining to keep the box up with his friend. _"This thing weighs a ton! What is it made of, solid rock?"_

 _"Just put it down, we'll get some more dudes to help lift this stupid thing."_ The other one said and down went the box with a loud _thud._ As they went to bitch to their friends about how heavy the box was, Wildrider took this as her time to snatch whatever they were carrying in the box. She opened it...

...only to reveal another box.

"Are you kidding me." Wildrider's brow furrowed, and began to realize that this box was _definitely_ something strange. Colored a deep black with splotches of glowing, electric blue, this thing must be alien in nature. She could feel it, and when she reached to take it, she also found out how heavy it was. Even though it was only the size of a beach ball, it must have weighed at least sixty pounds. Dealing with thing was gonna be a pain in the ass, so she heaved it underneath her bountiful chest and walked out.

"Drop it, Decepticon." And she turned her head to see Elita standing there with her arms crossed. Wildrider ground her hardlight teeth behind her mouth. Of course as soon as she found the relic the damn Autobot found her trying to take it.

"Oh yeah, Elita. I'm totally gonna give you the relic." She sarcastically said with the relic in her hands. "You're just jealous I got a bigger set of human boobs than you."

Elita's eyebrows twitched in anger, but quickly stopped herself. "Don't test me, Wildrider. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are already dealing with Airachnid right now and they could always find out where you're parked and beat the holy hell out of you if you don't give me that damn cube. So do the smart thing, Decepticon, and _drop it._ "

All Wildrider did was shrug, say "Okay," and dropped the box.

Right on Elita's foot.

The femme commander screamed in pain as her toes were flattened by the heavy box. Her hardlight body flickered due to the pain, and Wildrider knew that the sensory modules of the hardlight were reflected into her own body, and it must have hurt like hell. Wildrider took advantage of the situation and socked Elita dead in the face as the Autobot was busy trying to get her foot out from underneath the box and sent her flying into a stack of toys.

 _"What the hell was that?"_ Wildrider felt her eyes widen. She forgot about the guards! Quickly hefting the cube once again and bolting out the door to leave the incoming guards and the recovering Elita, she weaved through the crowd to try and get back out to the outside. Of course, there was a damn parade of people dressed like idiots in front of her who were coming her way, all of them with their goofy smiles and fake weapons. By the looks of it, there was no space to go through and all the damn multicolored freaks were whooping and cheering about some damn new anime that had come out.

"Dammit." She hissed underneath her breath. She hoped Airachnid was having a better time than she was.

...

Balancing another kick towards Sunstreaker's face, Airachnid streaked through the air to try and get the Autobot down with one move. Sunstreaker responded by dashing away at the last second and then grabbing Airachnid's legs and flung her into the construction zone that was a block away from the anime-con. Civilians ducked out of the way as she crashed through steel and concrete into the unfinished interior of fancy glass sculptures and fountains.

"Wildrider wherever the hell you are you better hurry!" Airachnid hissed between her denta.

"Aw, did the little spider go squish?" Sideswipe laughed as he ran up to deliver another round of pain on the Decepticon. She twisted her body to bring her legs back beneath her body and raised her fists, and noticed that there is a large I-beam that had been knocked down. Feeling a little brave, she hefted the I-beam like a club and raised it against her body. Sideswipe, who saw the Decepticon equip her new weapon a little too late, and got the receiving end of twenty feet of steel right in the face. He careened into a concrete pillar which sent him a good slumber, but Airachnid was sluggish after that first strike and got a kick in the gut from the rushing Sunstreaker, who was a little peeved that he saw his brother take a dirt nap via skull bash.

"I'll tear your limbs off and stuff them up your exhaust pipes, bitch!"

Maybe peeved was a bad word choice.

Airachnid transformed into her spider form and rushed Sunstreaker, who had equipped his sword and charged. Limbs clashed with steel as the two dueled in the construction zone. Sunsteaker did a low swing to bifurcate Airachnid but the spider was fast enough to deflect it and jump back and burrow into the ground. Sunsteaker, however, wasn't dumb. Having heard enough tales from Arcee, he leaped up towards the second story and just in time to see the spider burst from beneath him.

"Clever move, Autobot." Airachnid praised.

"Come up here, we can flirt some more if you want to." Sunstreaker responded, winking at the Decepticon.

"You're not my type." Airachnid responded and shot out a string of webbing at Sunstreaker. The Lamborghini dodged the first shot, but the second got his arm and stuck him to a wall. She wasted no time in restraining Sunstreaker with more webbings, making sure that he stayed there. He tried getting out, but it was to no avail.

"Now, where's your annoying broth-" That was as far as Airachnid got before she heard Sideswipe jump up, branding a pair of pipes fashioned into swords and screamed at the top of vocalizer,

 _ **"Sind sie das essen, und wir sind die jäger!"**_

Tucking the pipe-swords to a roll, Sideswipe slashed Airachnid straight across the chest. While it didn't dig deep, the scratches it laid on her onyx chest burned like acid and she hissed in pain. The spider ducked back to avoid another swipe, but Sideswipe was faster and pointed the swords like a lance and speared her through the shoulder. Airachnid couldn't even let out another scream before she was impaled in the gut and kicked away. She collided with several containers and steel spools before crashing down. Her wounds gushed with energon as her slim fingers tried to stop the bleeding, and could only watch as Sideswipe let his brother free from her trap.

"Really? Singing _Attack on Titan_? Are you an idiot?" Sunstreaker yelled at his brother.

"What, it's catchy." Sideswipe shrugged. "Besides, now that Airachnid's been taken care of, we can find the relic before the Stunticon does."

"I'm not dead yet, Autobots." Airachnid growled out, and attempted to stand up as her systems began to heal. To say that it hurt would be an understatement. It felt like someone had put nails inside of her body that were stinging her at the same time.

 _"Hey Airachnid, guess who just got the relic!"_ Wildrider's voice suddenly came to life in Airachnid's comm-link. _"I'll be there in a sec! And get ready, I'm sure Elita's gonna be right behind me."_

 _Thank Primus above,_ Airachnid sighed internally. With her injuries, she wouldn't last long against these two. Her internal readings suggest that she would be healed in about ten cycles, but she didn't want to push her luck, even with baiting some of Prime's more bloodthirsty soldiers. But with Wildrider about to enter the fray, they can deal with these two before Elita can get her hands on whatever Wildrider got.

Sunsteaker came first, raising his fist to strike Airachnid down. She quickly transformed into her spider form and knocked him back, only to get kicked in the gut from Sideswipe. She tried to get a good slash on his chassis, but Sunstreaker grabbed a pair of her legs from behind and threw her across the room. After crashing through a concrete pillar, Airachnid reverted back into bipedal form to stop herself. With her current injuries and energon reserves running low, she was in a losing fight. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe could keep going if they wanted to, but she would sooner drop from exhaustion than get some sort of victory over these two. Her cooling fans, the ones that weren't damaged, were working overtime and she found herself panting to stop the overwhelming heat in her body.

The only thing she could do was keep them at bay, and so she decided to spam her webbings incessantly, never stopping for a moment while she fired rapidly at the twins. Sunstreaker was splattered with the webbings, but only a handful managed to actually slow him down, and if they did they weren't strong enough to keep him down for long. Sideswipe, ever joyful and taunting, danced and frolicked around these projectiles acting as if they were far from dangerous. For too long Airachnid was used to quickly trapping her prey with precise strikes, but now she was releasing a hailstorm of webs, trying to slow down the Autobots.

Airachnid closed her eyes to try and conjure up some remaining strength before Sideswipe got to her, easily parting through her attacks. Her moment of surprise was short lived when her body was meet with his fists.

And more yelling.

 ** _"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"_**

Sideswipe's fists were punching Airachnid so fast that she didn't feel the impacts half the time, only regurgitating the pain she felt before tenfold. She could barely get a whimper out as he relentlessly pummeled her like a sandbag, and with a final uppercut Sideswipe KO'd her into la-la land. Sunstreaker arrived just in time to peel of the last of her webs from his body.

"Well, she's taken care of." He said, and lowered his rifle to her face. "Should we blow her head off and tell Arcee about it?"

"She's Arcee's problem, bro. We don't get to finish her off, even if it was fun to knock her around." Sideswipe replied. "Now I wonder where Wildrider is..."

"Right _here_ , Autobot!"

Sideswipe turned around just in time for Wildrider's fist to come crashing down on his head, bursting open his head like a grapefruit. The sound of her fist colliding with Sideswipe was more akin to hearing a cannon go off. Seeing her friend getting pummeled into a pulp only fueled the Stunticon's rage against the Autobots, and she wanted to make sure that Sideswipe got the best of her "treatment". Sideswipe's skull cracked open, bursting energon in a violent spray before he was sent spiraling into a staircase that exploded into dust upon contact. She knew he wasn't dead, but he wasn't getting up after that one.

If both of them had noticed, the relic was attached to her hip.

"YOU BASTARD!" Sunstreaker raged after seeing his brother nearly get his head blown off and struck at Wildrider, only to miss. And then she began her own attack, intimidating what Sideswipe did to Airachnid not just a minute ago. This time, it was Sunstreaker who was paying the price as her fists machine-gunned into his body.

 ** _"MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDAAAA!"_**

One last strike into Sunstreaker's face sent the Autobot flying. With both of the Autobot twins taken down, Wildrider rushed towards the downed Airachnid.

"Air, you alright?" She shook her friend, who wasn't looking that well off. The energon pool around her body was still growing. "C'mon girl, speak to me!"

"Took you... long enough..." Airachnid coughed out some energon, and her optics flickered on and off. Seeing as though the relic was in hand, it was time for the both of them to go. Wildrider gently put her friend's arm across her shoulders, balancing her so that no more energon could be spilled out. Airachnid winced as she stood up, limping as Wildrider radioed for backup.

"Soundwave, mind giving us a bridge? Airachnid's hurt and I've got the relic." She called to the telepath. Seconds later, a groundbridge opened up right in front of them. Wildrider and Airachnid hurried on over as fast as they could, but the sudden sound of a car engine stopped them. They turned around to see a Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR, colored pink and white, rush down to them and transform into Elita.

"What the fu-?" The two Decepticon females could only watch as she barreled into them, knocking all of them down and sending the relic bouncing away. Wildrider landed short of the portal while Airachnid and Elita barreled downwards into a loading pit. Elita pointed her sword right at Airachnid's spark.

"This is for Arcee." Elita snarled, but right before she could send the spider to the afterlife, Airachnid used what little strength she had left and slugged Elita in the jaw. It didn't send her far, but it pried her off. Airachnid collapsed, totally spent and no more energy left in her body. Elita rubbed her mouth and wiped off a trail of energon, now very eager to finish off the spider.

"Get off of her!" Elita heard the scream of Wildrider from above her. Elita ground her denta, she had just about enough of these two today. Her sword went ablaze in blue fire, ready for whatever Wildrider was gonna throw at her. Realizing that there was a growing shadow cast above her, Elita looked up to see the Stunticon barreling down on her from above, all while holding a huge construction vehicle and yelling at the top of her vocalizer.

 ** _"ROADO ROLLERDA!"_**

 ** _KABOOM!_**

Elita, stunned by what Wildrider was doing, could only watch as she _flattened_ her into the ground in a powerful crash. When the dust settled, Wildrider noticed that Elita, while not dead, had been totally buried under the road roller. The only thing sticking out that wasn't underneath tons of steel was her arm, which clung to her sword. Now the only one standing, Wildrider hopped off the road roller and ran for Airachnid. The relic could wait. Her friend couldn't.

"Nononono. C'mon Air, don't be dead. Please."

Airachnid responded by letting out a very quiet huff of air.

"Oh, thank Primus above." Wildrider grabbed her by the shoulders and hoisted her on her back. Before she forgot, she grabbed the cube and headed out. As Wildrider neared the portal, she felt Airachnid beginning to breathe on her neck. Normally, anyone would be blushing, but to her she was just glad that she wasn't bringing her back to be buried. Airachnid's arms tightened on her grip on Wildrider's chest not trying to be suave but to get a better grip to not fall off.

"Hey now, Air. If you want some action you should wait until we get back on the _Nemesis._ " Wildrider said with a cheeky smile.

"Very... _hah_... funny, Stunticon." Airachnid said back, and the two entered the portal.

* * *

 _-the Nemesis-_

"You're very lucky to be alive, Airachnid." Flatline chastised as he went over the readings that were listed on his datapad. "Energon depletion in eighty-six percent in your body, massive trauma induced injuries, and let's not forget overall chassis damage. Any more to that list and you'd be a corpse."

Airachnid had been rushed to the med-bay when the two had returned. Flatline had made sure that she was given treatment as soon as she entered through his doors. Wildrider had carried her the entire way. Her body was a mangled mess and it would be some time before she was ready to go out and fight Autobots again. As Flatline was busy getting some energon ready for injection and the sterilization of her wounds, Wildrider was busy patching up her body from the minor injuries. The laser scalpel in her hand slowly sowed together the cuts that Sideswipe had so graciously given her with his weapons.

"Guess I owe you one, don't I?" Airachnid chuckled to the Stunticon, and then clutched her chest in pain. "Agh!"

"Easy, Air." Wildrider said, and gently grasped her friend's hand. "Save your strength, you're gonna need it. There, all done." Wildrider put away her scalpel and walked over the computer console to type in some medical records for Flatline. "Yo Flats, I've welded some of the minor injuries."

"Excellent Wildrider. Now be a dear and make sure Megatron gets her relic. I'll take care of Airachnid." Flatline pointed to the table where the small cube was busy sitting. "Knockout, ready the C.R. chamber. Airachnid's gonna need some time in there." Knockout nodded and pressed the activation button in front of the massive glass cylinder. Before she left, Airachnid had one last thing to say to her friend.

"Hey, Stunticon." Wildrider turned around to see Airachnid smirking at her. "I don't say this much... but thanks for the save."

"No prob, Air." Wildrider said, and left right as her friend was lifted into the C.R. chamber. The crystal blue liquid engulfed the spider, and she fell into a deep slumber. Wires and tubes connected themselves to her body as Flatline typed in the recommended treatment. Because of her injuries, Airachnid wasn't going anywhere soon as the readings that the C.R. chamber was giving to Flatline's med-bay datapad. The CMO typed in some more commands before allowing the chamber to lock down and begin healing the spider.

"Treatment time until complete recovery, sixty-two hours." Flatline announced and put his datapad on his hip.

"That long for _madame_ over here? Makes me wonder how desperate the Autobots are getting." Knockout said. "Never thought Airachnid and Wildrider would be friends, though. Always thought the spider was too good for anyone else."

"Stranger things have happened on this warship, Knockout. Airachnid finding a friend is not one of them."

"Whatever."

...

"One relic, safe and sound, my Lady." Wildrider bowed before her Master and gave the small cube to Megatron. Her entrance into the Warlord's throne room was that of rejoicing. Wildrider had returned, with the relic in hand. Shockwave had informed her that Airachnid had been substantially damaged in the fight for the relic but Wildrider had saved her and the relic from falling into Autobot hands. Quite the benevolent Decepticon, Wildrider was. Megatron inwardly praised her soldier for taking the relic, but would never say it out loud.

"And the Autobots who pursued you?" Megatron asked, taking the cube in her hand under inspection. It was rather tiny, barely the size of her finger, but she could feel the weight it had.

"Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Elita-One, ma'am." Wildrider answered. "They were after the relic as well."

"Are they deceased?" The warlord asked, handing the relic to Shockwave.

"Probably not, though I did crack open Sideswipe's head and crush Elita under a steamroller." Wildrider smirked as she remembered her silly final battle with the femme commander. Starscream, who was standing nearby, did his best to cover up his chortling laughter. Seeing the mental image of Elita getting mushed by the Stunticon was too humorous to keep in. Soundwave was busy typing this into the local hub for the rest of the Decepticon army to enjoy.

 _A shame you didn't kill her._ Megatron growled inwardly. Elita would be the biggest roadblock in Megatron's eventual plan to have Optimus to herself. The two were deeply in love, but Megatron couldn't give a scrap-pile about love. She just wanted someone to satisfy her. In a manner of speaking.

"You did well, Wildrider. Shockwave, give me a status on the others." Megatron commanded.

"Sprawl and the two humans are currently flying over the Amazon as we speak, my Lady. Turmoil has touched down in Nova Scotia and is scouring for the relic. That is all." The cyclops responded, looking down at a data-pad that he held. "No words from the Autobots yet, but if Wildrider's story proves anything then they're going to be desperate to try and get the relics before we do. I detect an eleven percent success rating, however. The Autobots are going to send troops that don't work well in teams." Shockwave calculated from Wildrider's own experience. Elita was a team player, but the Twins were not. They were lone wolves and would rather go things their own way than listen to Elita's orders. It cost them the relic this time, next time might be different.

 _"Lady Megatron, can you hear me?"_ The console in front of Soundwave sputtered out. Sprawl's voice was coming out of it, sounding desperate and crazy.

"Go ahead Sprawl." Megatron commanded, albeit slightly worried.

 _"I've reached the jungles of the Amazon, but things aren't looking too good here! When I was setting down to let the humans out, the Autobots attacked!"_ Megatron heard Wildrider gasp, her purple optics widening with terror. The Stunticon's mind could only draw up a couple conclusions and none of them were good. _"The Wreckers and some other Autobots got the drop on me and the two humans."_

"Are the humans alright?" Megatron urgently asked. The humans were irreplaceable to her and the Stunticons.

 _"Ethan and Samantha are fine, they ran into the jungle before the Autobots could get to them. I think Ravage is with them."_

"Thank Primus above." Wildrider felt relief fill her spark.

"Can you track their progress?" Megatron asked.

 _"I was getting to that, my Lady. The problem I'm facing is that I can't find them. I've tried everything from signal flares to radio bursts, but the storm over here is jamming everything. I'm sorry, but the two humans are on their own now. All I can do is wait."_ Sprawl responded, his voice full of nervousness. _"I'll keep on trying to find them, but I give no promises."_

"Do what you can, Sprawl. Find the humans and the relic, that's an order." Megatron said before closing the comm-link. The Decepticons looked at Wildrider, who was staring into the screen with utter fear. Her human was down there, out of touch from help and rescue. This was becoming a harrowing experience. The relic and the Autobots were still out there, and if it were the Wreckers then the humans would stand no chance of fighting them.

"Wildrider." She looked up to see Megatron staring down at her with sympathetic optics. "They'll be fine. _He'll_ be fine."

All Wildrider could do hope to god that her Master's words were true.

* * *

 **Yare yare daze, that took long enough.**

 **As you can see, I've been watching some shows over the past couple days.**

 **See you soon.**


	3. El Dorado

_-the Amazon forest, thirty minutes ago-_

 _"This is where you're supposed to find the relic? This is like finding-"_

 _"A needle in a haystack? We humans have plenty of terms for finding the impossible, never stopped us before."_

 _The cool, misty clouds above Brazil easily hid the Warrior Elite from the prying eyes of the humans below. The moment Sprawl had crossed over the Andes mountains his vision was suddenly filled with miles upon miles of sheer greenery. The forest seemed to stretch on and on forever. Sprawl remembered that forests like this once existed on Cybertron, hundreds of different types of flora that were now extinct because of the great war. In a way, Sprawl thought that the forest was beautiful in a strange way. The Elite continued his journey to where the relic was supposed to be located, but wherever he went there were only trees._

 _None of the humans or minicons inside were at the helm. That was a rule Sprawl had told them before they had left the Nemesis; he drove himself, no exceptions. The humans were too used to driving cars, as they were aptly named after the Stunticons, and would have no idea what to do. Frenzy, Rumble and Ravage, who had been ordered by Soundwave to be backup should the situation go downhill, were with them on this journey. He sure as hell didn't want either of them at the steer, probably because one of them would take a detour and mess up the mission._

 _Frenzy and Rumble pressed themselves against the windows at the front of Sprawl's cockpit, totally digesting the scenery of the Amazon. Surprisingly enough there was enough space for all five of them to fit inside of Sprawl, which was divided into two segments; the cockpit and the body. The cockpit is where the minicon twins were looking out of, Ethan was at a turret station slumbering away for the journey, Samantha was at the comms talking to Sprawl and Ravage was next to her, watching the screens relay messages to both the Elite and the Nemesis._

 _"Girl, you mind waking up your mate? We're almost there." Sprawl said, taking a slow bend around a large hill._

 _"For the last time Sprawl, he's my best friend, NOT my husband!" Samantha pinched her nose while Ravage mimicked a certain laughing cartoon dog. "Ravage, quit being a Muttley and wake Ethan up." The girl said, and the panther rolled his single optic as he walked over and smacked Ethan out of the chair with his tail. The boy stumbled to find his footing and swiped his hand at the air._

 _"Medic on standby!" He said, drowsily. Ethan then blinked, and realized he was still inside of Sprawl. "Dammit. Are we there yet?"_

 _"We're approaching the landing zone as we speak, boy." Sprawl responded as Ethan rubbed his eyes to get a good look of the outside. He'd been to Brazil plenty of times to scout out energon reserves that were hidden underneath the forest, but he'd never been this deep in the jungles of the Amazon. It scared him, honestly._

 _"Holy Christ on a crutch we're going in there?" Ethan gawked._

 _"What's wrong, Ethan? Scared of the trees?" Samantha snickered at him, and he returned with a glare._

 _"No. Just what lives in the trees!"_

 _"Sounds like he's scared." Frenzy giggled, and the boy turned to look at him only to be stopped by Rumble._

 _"Yeah, maybe he should stay with Sprawl and be safe. After all, he is just a_ widdle hooman boy _." Rumble mocked with batting eyelids and pouting lips. Ethan's eye twitched once before he put his foot down. It wasn't just here that Rumble and Frenzy had Ethan be the butt of their jokes. He'd had enough of their shit on the warship and it was time to show them wrong._

 _"I'm not scared, I'm concerned! Two totally different things!" He argued while throwing his hands in the air. "I don't know what's down there. You don't know what's down there, and for all we know it could be anything down there!" Samantha and Rumble seemed slightly surprised that Ethan was making a big deal out of going into the jungle. Maybe seeing the actual thing had spooked him. After all, he was a city boy. He was used to concrete and steel, not green as far as the eye can see. Ravage was too busy scratching the back of his head with a paw to care._

 _"Okay, jeez kid. Take a chill pill." Frenzy chuckled, and before Ethan could reply the five inside felt the warship slow to a crawl. The signal had reached the zenith to where Sprawl could be most useful and it was time to have the others get out and huff it on foot. Not the brightest idea, but someone as small as them could easily traverse through the forest without a problem. He however was far too wide to make it through the trees, and so were most of the Decepticons back on the Nemesis._

 _"Here's the drop off." Sprawl announced, and the side hatch opened up with stairs reaching down the grassy field. Sprawl's engines were blasting hot air across the plain, kicking up dirt and mud. The mincons got out first, with the humans trailing them. Samantha took a big gulp of air, enjoying the clean atmosphere of the forest while Ethan got his communicator out to find the general direction of the relic. Frenzy and Rumble were busy taking pictures of each other, posing like the famous rap artists they listen to. Sprawl himself transformed to get a better look into the forest, and to make sure that the humans were as safe as possible._

 _Sprawl turned his head to notice the incoming thunderstorm above. Anything like that would cut off connection for a while, basing on how long the storm would last._

 _"Now remember, if you see anything that resembles Autobot, you signal me and I'll fight them off. There's a storm coming and we might lose connection so stay together and don't get lost. I don't want Motormaster or the rest of the Stunticons tearing me apart for losing two of their own." Sprawl explained, and then turned to Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage. "I can count on you three to search with them."_

 _"You got it, big guy." Frenzy gave a thumbs up._

 _And that's when all hell broke loose._

 _Ethan had ducked down just in time to avoid getting gobsmacked by a rocket, which screamed from the other side of the forest over his head. Samantha had launched herself down, hiding in the tall grass to avoid getting hit by something. She covered her ringing ears and felt someone grab her by the shoulder and hoof her up on her feet, and realized that it was Ethan._

 _Sprawl and the minicons were busy fighting back at the Autobots, and doing surprisingly well for being wide out in the open. Sprawl's railcannons were busy firing nonstop at the Autobot forces that were hiding behind toppled trees and mounds. Ethan and Samantha noticed that their attackers were none other than the Wreckers; Bulkhead and Wheeljack, along with Broadside, Whirl, and Topspin. The five of them were either shooting, taking cover or yelling at each other._

 _"Smooth move, Whirl!" Topspin raged at his mono-optic friend. "This isn't_ Call of Duty, _you idiot!"_

 _"Well excuse me, it's kind of hard to snipe someone with one eye!" The helicopter responded and fired at Sprawl with the miniguns in his chest. It barely fazed the Warrior Elite. "And by the way, it was your idea to try and get the big guy with a headshot!"_

 _"Will you two shut up and shoot?" Broadside yelled at them, and the two begrudgingly abandoned their argument to start fighting back._

 _The two humans knew they couldn't stay here, if the bullets, rockets and lasers flying over their heads were anything that could give a hint. The girl's tracker was pointing East, behind Sprawl. If she and Ethan could slip into the forest now, then they could have a head start while the Autobots tried to fight Sprawl and the minicons. It was a good plan, but only if they remained hidden. Thankfully, their attention was stuck on the chrome and black Decepticon above them and wasn't going anywhere._

 _"C'mon E, let's get the fuck out of here!" Samantha said and grabbed onto Ethan's hand and ran as fast as she could, Ethan scurrying behind her avoiding the incoming hailstorm of Autobot fire. The moment they kicked their legs into gear, the clouds above exploded with thunder and lightning dashed across the sky, signalling the heavy rain incoming. As the two ran across the field and into the forest, the only one who noticed them running in was Ravage, who turned and ran to track them down, vanishing into the forest with them. Sprawl noticed this and realized that it would be stupid to stay, and tried communicating with the panther only to realize that the sudden storm had blocked his signal with the warship._

 _"Dammit! Frenzy, Rumble, hold on!" He reached down to grab the minicons and leaped up as high as he could in the air with the thrusters underneath his pedes._

 _"Hey, what's the big idea? We had them!" Frenzy asked as Sprawl transformed with the two of them thrown inside the cockpit. "And where's Ravage and the humans?"_

 _"They left. They're in the forest as we speak and we can't reach them because of the storm." Sprawl said, taking a sharp right towards open sky. Frenzy and Rumble only looked at each other in surprise. Soundwave wasn't going to be happy about that._

 _"Shit, that's not good. For the humans, I mean. Ravage will be fine. He always pulls out, hey oh." Rumble snickered at his own joke and Frenzy elbowed him in the gut._

 _"Hold on, I'm contacting the warship once we get out of these clouds. They are **not** going to be left behind, I won't allow it."_

...

- _the Amazon, now_ -

"Good going Sammy, just rush into the forest without thinking. What could go wrong, oh I don't know, maybe that now we have no idea where the hell we are!" Ethan screamed at the canopy above him, spooking the birds and bugs and everything else a quarter-mile radius. He and his best friend had been non-stop running in the forest as soon as they reached the trees and only now had stopped to take a breather. Ethan, who was not enjoying the heavy rain in his soaked sport shorts and t-shirt, turned to glare at her, who wasn't faring much better trying to hide underneath a large leaf.

"Well I'm sorry, E. I was just trying to _save our lives,_ you asshole!" Samantha yelled back, and rubbed her face clean off the water. "Look, just gimme five minutes and I'll be able to get this thing working." She shook the communicator in her hands, trying to get it back online. No wonder nobody couldn't contact them; their gear was utterly soaked in water and it would be a miracle if they could even get a fire going. Ravage was sitting nearby, totally not minding the rain. Rather, he found the conversation between the two humans rather funny.

Ethan wiped his eyes. "Well we can't wait for Sprawl. Let's just find the relic and-"

"A HA!" Samantha cheered. "Got it back alive! Sprawl, can you hear me?" A crackle of static, but no answer. She lightly tapped the side of the device. "Sprawl? Anyone?"

 _"Samantha?"_ Rumble's voice coming out of the communicator was music to her ears.

"Oh sweet Primus above, you can hear us!" Samantha said with a wide smile, Ethan rushing over to her side. "Hey, sorry about leaving you guys in the dust, but-"

 _"We've been looking all over for you! We're over the storm right now, but we can't really see you guys down there!"_ Rumble responded. _"Is Ethan and Ravage down there? We were talking to Megatron and Wildrider and they were really spooked when we told them you went missing."_

"What the fu - We didn't go missing you ass! We ran because we were getting shot at, and the rain shorted-out our radio." Ethan said into the communicator. "And for the love of god, please tell everyone that we're fine. We'll have the relic by sundown if things go well." Ethan said, looking to where he could spy the sun barely shining behind the deep gray clouds above. The rain wasn't helping either. His blond hair was soaked, and trying to see out of his bangs was a pain in the ass. If this rain continued then he'd might as well try to search for the relic at the bottom of the river.

 _"Can do, E!"_ Rumble cheered and was then cut off by Sprawl. _"Hey, you three watch yourselves down there. The Autobots are still around, so stick to the deep jungle and avoid open areas at all costs. And do **NOT** lose your communicator or Ravage. They are your lifelines in that jungle so stay as safe as possible."_

"Alright Sprawl, see you guys soon. We'll call when we have the relic in hand." Samantha then turned off her communicator and stuffed it back into her short pockets. Thankfully, they were coupled with flaps that had buttons on them keeping the communicator safe inside. Knowing that the rest of the Decepticons would soon learn that they were alive, the three of them headed deeper into the jungle towards the relic. After a couple minutes of hiking through dense jungle, Ethan decided that the silence between the three of them needed to end.

"Hey Ravage, can you talk?" Ethan asked as he hopped over a fallen log. The panther looked at him as if he had grown an extra head. "I'm serious. I don't know whether or not you can't talk or you just choose not to. I can understand that. I just want to know."

"Wow, E. Real sensitive of you." Samantha mockingly said to him.

"What, it's a simple question." He shrugged at her.

"Yes." The two of them whirled their heads towards the panther, "I can talk." Ravage's voice was very scratchy, as if he hadn't used his vocalizer in years. It was also growling out of his maw, something that the two humans thought fit for the cat. Ethan seemed surprised that Ravage could talk, even it was short. "I just choose to be silent. I... listen."

"Okay." Ethan said.

"Really?" Samantha raised an eyebrow at him. "That's it. You just say _okay_ and that's all you do?"

"What do you want from me? All I wanted to know was whether or not he could talk."

"You two are making a big deal out of nothing."

"Thank you Ravage." Ethan turned back to his friend. "See? Nothing to be complaining about."

Samantha rolled her eyes. This was going to be a long hike.

...

"How long ago did you say that we were a quarter of the way there?" Samantha leaned on the tree next to her. The rain had stopped minutes ago, leaving the jungle in a cool wet afternoon. The sun had shined through the departing clouds and the forest was now alive once more with the constant sounds of insects buzzing, birds chirping and other animals calling out in the vast jungle. Ethan and Samantha had gone from enjoying the scenery to simply wanting to get out of this forest. Nothing against the Amazon, but the constant walking was tiring them out.

"At this rate, my legs'll fall off before we can get there." Ethan said, rubbing his ankle. His joints were going to be sore in the morning.

Ravage, however, kept going. The humans would be fine, even if he did have a head-start on the relic. Ravage was the first to realize that the forest parted open to reveal the large creek in front of them. The steep shoreline gave way to the muddy waters of the Amazon river, flooding into the basin that would have existed right in front of them. There were also a large amount of branches, twigs and trunks that had been swept up by the river and into the creek, forming a moving bridge.

"What's wrong, Ravage?" Samantha asked, and Ravage pointed forward with a claw. "Oh, great. A river."

"No shit, Einstein." Ethan said sarcastically as he walked towards where his companions were standing. "Well, I don't think we can cross this without drowning."

"Yeah we can. Look." Samantha said, pointing at the huge mass of lumber floating down the river as they spoke. "We can just use this to get across."

"I don't think that'll hold us, Sammy." Ethan stepped down onto the stream where a large log had wedged itself in a mass of roots.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Samantha hopped down towards the log and took a steady step, making sure that her foot was planted straight in the middle. With no weight, it was nothing to be scared of, but the logs size was another factor, because if she took a stumble, she's be eating mud at the bottom of the river. With skill and balance, mostly balance, she leaned herself on with both feet and stood on the log, completely fine. Ethan took a breather after seeing his best friend risk her life on crossing a river to get a shortcut.

"You've got bigger balls than me, dude." Ethan laughed and he too walked on the log, happy to know that it was safe to walk on. He turned to talk to Ravage, but noticed that the panther was crouched low, with his ears tucked behind his head and tail hovering above the ground.

"Ravage?" He said, and his concern got Samantha's attention.

The sounds of whirring rotors could be heard, almost like a whisper, but it gradually got louder. Ethan and Samantha eyed the sky, but couldn't find anything. Ravage's single orange optic was constantly looking out, but he too wasn't finding the source of the sound.

"Autobots?" Ethan said.

"Maybe, could be the Brazilians. Or loggers." Samantha replied.

"Loggers don't use helicopters, and we're too far away from any sort of civilization." He said back.

"Then it's Autobots."

"And you're right!" Suddenly, the rotors became deafening and the two humans were nearly blown back by the sudden intrusion of a certain dual-rotor helicopter, who transformed right in the middle of the lake and splashed down, nearly causing them to fall off the log and into the murky creek. Ethan's mechanical arm dug deep into the decaying wood while Samantha was able to stand up straight and see who had just come to stop them. Whirl. Samantha cursed to herself, because of course the one Autobot who wasn't afraid to kill the Stuntikids just had to come along when she was unarmed. The creek was doing nothing to him as if it was little more than a trickle.

"Well well _well._ Look what we have here." Whirl would be smirking if he had a face. "Goldilocks and the cyborg. Fancy meeting you two lovebirds here."

Samantha didn't bite back at Whirl for his innuendo, opting to keep herself in line and focus on the mission. "Where's the rest of you?"

"Busy fighting Sprawl, so I guess you can't run and hide behind him now, can ya? Him and the three minicons are flying to god knows where, and meanwhile all we have to do is find that relic, but I guess I picked up a little extra on my way in." Whirl noticed that Ethan was trying to make a move, and so he used the top pincer to pin him down on the log, hard. Ethan gasped for air as he was sent on his back, Whirl's pincer on his stomach, and Samantha recoiled in shock, only to have his other pincer knock her down as well.

And coincidentally, Samantha realized that while her friend was being a pincushion, Whirl had admitted a flaw; he said that Sprawl had _three_ minicons with him. Which meant that Ravage, who was mere meters away from Whirl, was totally unknown. He didn't know that the panther was lining up to make a move.

"Oh no you don't, you little scamps!" Whirl said too cheerily for either of the humans to be comfortable. "I'm not done yet!"

"You one-eyed prick!" Samantha yelled at him, and in response Whirl did two things; one, he pressed down harder on the poor kids and Ethan swore he could hear his bones creak. And two, he responded without any of the humor he had earlier.

"Wow, now that was rude." Whirl's optic half-dimmed, intimidating a cross expression.

"It was supposed to be!" She said back, and in return he focused his attention on her.

"Goddammit Samantha SHUT UP! You're just gonna make him kill us faster!" Ethan hissed at her.

"Actually, if I was gonna kill you two - which I have no qualms about - I'd kill you _slower._ I have to tell you, you humans being Decepticons are going to show me interesting amounts of gore that I'd never even _dream of._ So I'd listen to your boyfriend if I were you, girly." Samantha's eye twitched. She'd had enough of people making it seem like Ethan and her were a couple. Every damn time, and finally she'd reached her boiling point.

"I AM NOT! _HIS! GIRLFRIEND!_ _ **RAVAGE!** "_

 ** _"MRROOOOOOWW!"_** Whirl turned just in time for the panther to jump on his face and attack him. It was so sudden that Whirl dropped the two of them back onto the log as Ravage began hacking and biting at Whirl, and the helicopter thrashed and wailed in the water, kicking up mud and dirt. One of Whirl's legs cut the log in half, and the two humans rushed as fast as they could before it could separate completely and made it to the other side safe and sound. Ravage and Whirl, however, were not so lucky as the incoming cascade smacked Whirl in the chest, knocking him and Ravage into the white-water rapids behind them. Ravage clung onto Whirl as they were both taken away by the stream.

"Get the relic! I'll hold him!" Ravage yelled as he was dragged out of sight. "GO!"

"C'mon Sammy, we have to move!" Ethan tugged on Samantha's shirt, dragging the girl through the forest.

"But Ravage is-!" She argued.

"He's fine! He can handle Whirl!" Samantha gave one last look to the conflicting Autobot and Decepticon before running after Ethan disappearing into the forest towards the relic. Now, it was just the two of them against the clock. If what Whirl said was true, then they'd need to get to the relic fast; the Autobots were certainly going to have a head start once they chased off Sprawl, and it would only be Ethan and Samantha against five Autobots, which didn't bode well for the girl.

...

"Get off of me, you stupid feline!" Whirl said as he grabbed a log and tried to bash Ravage off his head, only to comically hit himself on the cranium. The two were fumbling down the river's rapids at an accelerating rate. Whirl's larger body was tossing and turning over rocks and mud while Ravage was expertly pouncing on and off of Whirl to make sure he didn't slip into the water. The cat left scratches and bite marks and bullet holes wherever he landed, and Whirl could barely get himself together in the water to fight the minicon.

The rumbling of a waterfall got their attention, and instantly Ravage hopped off the dual-rotor and onto a crag, and watched as Whirl was dragged helplessly over the cusp and into the mist below. The feline was sure that it would not kill him, but it might knock down the Wreckers from five to four if Whirl was badly damaged enough. And sure to his meaning, he saw the turquoise and ocean-blue Apache that was Topspin touch down at the bottom of the waterfall.

Ravage looked down, and saw that the Wrecker was slowly dragging the probably unconscious Whirl out of the water. The impact must have knocked him out, at least he would have stayed that way until Topspin smacked him on the head a couple times and wakened the helicopter.

"Afternoon, Topspin. It's a great day for a swim, just so you know." Whirl said.

"What the heck happened, Whirl? One minute you were with us, the next you were gone and then I get an SOS from you! You gotta at least tell us when you want to go on a field trip on cross country." Topspin admonished to his fellow Wrecker. "Mind telling me how you got those bite marks?"

"Name another minicon that turns into a cat." Whirl said as he stood up, and noticed that when he looked back to where he fell, Ravage was watching him. "There he is!" He pointed a claw at the feline. "Hey, you damn pussycat! Just wait till I get up there!"

Ravage turned and left the two to themselves.

"Stupid Wreckers. Sprawl, come in."

 _"I copy, Ravage."_ The Elite responded.

"I've managed to knock Whirl down for a while. Topspin is here repairing him. Any word on the other Wreckers?"

 _"They're busy getting Broadside out of a tree. I managed to knock out one of his engines, but they'll be back. How are the humans?"_

Ravage sighed in frustration before answering. "We got separated. Whirl got the drop on us and I had to act."

 _"Are they alive?"_ Sprawl asked.

"Yes. For the time being. We can't waste any time meeting up, we should stick to finding the relic and then get together." Ravage said, offering his idea.

 _"I agree. I don't doubt the ability of the two humans. I just hope they find the relic and make it back alive."_

Ravage stared into the dense forest behind him. "You're not the only one."

...

The two humans that the Decepticons were talking about had managed to make it without drawing any more attention. As the two ventured deeper into the heart of the Amazon, the jungle seemed to get denser and denser, until it seemed to be more otherworldly than native to the planet itself. The thick vines draping across the canopy and trees as wide as tanks crowded the dense foliage. The green, vibrant air that was once alive seemed to have turned into a gray, misty haze that sparsely hid the outer reaches of their vision. And it was quiet. Eerily quiet. Samantha could hear Ethan's panting from ten feet from her.

"Guess," Ethan said, leaning on a tree and rubbing a scrape he got from Whirl, "it's just the two of us now."

"Yeah." Samantha said, then smiled at him. "Never stopped us before."

"Hehe, yeah." Ethan laughed. "You still have the communicator?" Ethan was worried about Wildrider. Sprawl had reported earlier that he was missing in action and the Ferrari would be sick worrying about him. He knew that she would try to bridge here to find him but it would only lead to more problems, this jungle was crowded enough with trees and vines, adding a twenty-two foot tall alien would not be helpful.

"It's Wildrider, isn't it?" She guessed, more than likely correct.

"Yeah." Ethan said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "She's gotta be going crazy. I can guess Drag Strip's having a meltdown right now."

"You wouldn't be wrong. Oh, would you look at that." Samantha said, looking down at the communicator. Ethan would have asked what was going on until Samantha showed him what was happening on the screen. The blip that showed the relic's location was little under a kilometer away. If they hurried in the last stretch, then they could get out of this godforsaken jungle sooner than sundown. And if time was their enemy, then they would have noticed that the sun was indeed dipping down towards the horizon, completely unknown to them because of the dense foliage.

"Holy shit, it's right there! C'mon Sammy, let's go!" Ethan took off in the direction where the relic was, leaving Sammy in the dust.

"Ethan, wait!" She yelled, trying to keep up with him. He was practically bouncing off the roots that stuck out from the ground, and climbed up a toppled tree to look where Samantha was. She was trying to get her foot out of a knot in the dirt. The soft dirt wasn't helping her out. "God-fucking-dammit, I might as well send a note to Sprawl."

"Keep up, Sammy. The sooner we get there we -" Ethan's foot slipped on a patch of moss and he fell backwards. Samantha watched the whole thing happen, and rather than hear a thud in the ground, a wet _splorch_ is what came. After getting her foot out, Samantha rushed around the tree to see that Ethan had fallen in a pit of black mud, everything below his chest buried underneath the dirt.

"Great." He sarcastically spat out. "Sammy you mind getting me out of this molasses, it's trying to eat me." Ethan said, trying to pry himself out only to sink down further.

She realized it wasn't mud.

"Ethan, don't move!" She cried out, and Ethan put his hands up as if he were about to be arrested. "You're sinking in quicksand!"

Ethan's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets as he looked down to see that he was slipping down into the mud. "Get me out of this stuff Sam!" The mud groaned and gurgled as air bubbles rushed up from being disturbed for how long ago they were trapped. "Oh man, I'm really sinking now!"

"Hang on!" She looked up to try to find a vine, something to get Ethan out of his predicament. Anything too thin would snap like a twig, so she had to find something with "muscle". A vine that was as thick as her leg suddenly came into her vision and she grabbed it, unaware that it was far heavier than what she expected. She hoofed it towards where Ethan was sinking and threw it as hard as she could.

"Here, grab this!" She shouted, and Ethan grabbed it. They tugged on the vine together, but it was Ethan who saw that the vine was _moving._ And since when did vines have spots of yellow on them...

"Sam, that's not a vine! That's a fucking _anaconda!_ " He shrieked, and Samantha turned around to realize that she had disturbed a thirty-foot long pissed off snake that had been taking a nap in the canopy. The snake flickered its tongue out of its mouth in front of Samantha, who was slowly backing away from the snake. This thing must have been at least six-hundred pounds of annoyed reptile, and she was barely five foot six. This massive thing rounded on her, the large body of the anaconda rearing up like a spring.

"N-Nice snake, good snake..." She trembled out, and then ran as fast as she could. The snake, however, was faster and bit down hard on Samantha's shoulder. The girl barely had time to make out a scream as the needle-like teeth sank into her flesh before the anaconda's thick body wrapped around her smaller frame and began to crush her. Samantha knew that constriction was a one-way street. She breathed to get some air in, and the snake would squeeze her harder and harder until she either passed out or suffocated to death from lack of oxygen. She could feel her arms begin to get cold, the anaconda was squeezing her hard enough to stop the blood flow.

Ethan could only watch as her friend was being turned in snake food. He tried to get himself out, but the quicksand would just not let go. He'd submerged up to his armpits, and he tried to shovel his way out but it now got his right arm stuck under. Ethan desperately tried to try and save both him and Samantha from their increasing chances of not getting out alive, but like her, he couldn't do anything but watch.

She groaned in pain as the anaconda still crushed her, but now it was lining up to eat her. Samantha could feel, with what little feeling was left in her body, the tickling of the snake's tongue on the top of her head. Ethan resigned to his fate. The muck was now up to his chin, and his mechanical arm was barely sticking out. If only he had something with range to get the snake off her.

 _Wait a second, I do have something with range! My taser!_ Ethan cursed himself for not remembering his taser and for giving up on the both of them. He'd equipped the taser not long after he and Wildrider had been Autobot hostages. Before his mouth sunk into the black abyss, he shouted out "Samantha! Duck!" And then he aimed for the snake's head and fired, the two-prong cable shooting out of his forearm and straight into the snake's head. The reptile thrashed around, hissing in pain, and let Samantha go as it fell into a deep slumber. The moment the snake fell Samantha sucked in a very rewarding breath of air and collapsed, trying to get her strength up. She could feel it returning slowly, but she prayed that it was fast enough to save her friend, who was knocking on death's door.

"Hang on E! I got you!" She dove right towards him and grabbed the only thing above the muck now, which was his hand. Using the unconscious snake as an anchor with one hand, she hauled him out of the quicksand with her regaining strength and onto dry land. Ethan's body was caked in dark gray mud as he coughed out some gunk that had gotten in his mouth. He wiped his eyes and saw Samantha sitting in front of him, and hugged her as hard as he could.

And then they started laughing.

"What a day, huh?" Ethan said, wiping a tear from his mud-covered face. "You and me, taking a nice jungle hike."

"Yeah, what a hike. Funny. It's not like was almost died." Samantha sighed out and brought out the communicator, which told them that the relic was just beyond the trees ahead with its cracked screen. She stood up, hissing in pain as the bruises she got from the snake decided to make themselves known. Ethan wiped off his completely wrecked clothes from the heavy layers of mud.

"I might as well go on naked." He said, taking note of his hanging shirt that was barely being held by threads. Samantha turned around and smirked at him.

"I'll give you forty bucks if you lose your shirt." She dared him, and he looked at her for a brief second before tearing off his shirt to reveal his pale, toned body, which had been spared from being caked, and tossed at the anaconda's head with a _splat_. "Well, that didn't take much."

"What can I say, I'm an exhibitionist. Besides it was a shitty shirt anyway." She giggled at his reasoning and the two of them continued on.

Until the ground beneath them gave way, and the two fell into a hole.

...

"Can this jungle... _try not to kill us?!_ " Samantha screamed as she stood up, her bottom aching from the fall. She was absolutely done with this damn jungle. From the river to the Wreckers to the damn snake that tried to eat her, Samantha vowed to never come back to the Amazon. Thankfully, they hadn't fallen too far, barely twenty feet at most. But the communicator in her pocket was going crazy.

"Hey, at least we're still alive. Ow." Samantha turned to see Ethan getting up from where he fell. He was rubbing his bum, trying to soothe the stinging pain.

"Holy shit. Ethan, come see this!" Samantha said, pointing towards a cave. Ethan grumbled and walked over to see what she was pointing at. The moment he saw it, his jaw dropped.

It was a city. An entire city, buried underneath the jungle, with paved roads, huge pyramids and other buildings that were hidden underneath the Amazon. Vines scattered across the city, tying themselves almost like modern day cables. Rushing water covered the streets below. An assortment of creatures lived here, as the two humans could see with the dim sunlight poking through holes in the cave top. Colorful birds and large insects of various species flew across the sky, totally undisturbed by the two humans entering the city.

What really got their eyes however, was what the city was made out of.

From their perspective, the entire city, pyramids, streets, temples and all other buildings were made entirely of **gold**.

"Samantha, this... this is **_El Dorado_**!" Ethan cried out. Samantha felt her breath taken away. The legendary city of El Dorado, the city made of gold, what the conquistadors of the 16th and 17th centuries ventured to Brazil and never found, now rediscovered in front of them. Samantha couldn't believe it, but it was here right in front of them. Ethan whooped and ran down the hill, running into the heart of the city where the river flowed. Samantha followed him, astonished by the find. If this was a dream of some sorts, then this was one hell of an experience. Ethan was too busy running up the water-laden streets to care, heading for the central pyramid.

"I can't believe it." Samantha gasped, pushing aside a couple vines. "Of all the places. Atlantis, Sodom, Agartha. No, we find the goddamn city of gold that people have been looking for fucking three hundred years. Not that I'm complaining." She said, entering a shop to realize that the people who once made this city home had left a treasure trove of jewelry. Necklaces, cuffs, and headbands all made out of pure gold and precious gems. She felt like royalty in here.

"This is probably where the relic is! There, at the pyramid!" She heard Ethan shout, and poked her head out the window to see that he was pointing at the huge step pyramid in the center of the city, where a waterfall gushed out from beneath the top spire. A quick dip into the street river washed off nearly all the mud that was on Ethan. "Ah, that felt good."

"Yo E, how do I look?" Ethan saw that Samantha was laden with golden items across her body, making her look like a spoiled queen.

"Like a million bucks." He gave a thumbs up and then climbed into the pyramid, Samantha right behind him. She discarded most of the gold save for the headband (it matched her hair) and followed him. After a couple minutes of hallways laden with golden engraves, they came across something strange. The engravings on the wall showed the people who built this place worshiping a strange item, shown to have fallen from the sky. Both of the teens saw that it was a bizarre, spherical object with a mass inside the center, which shot out a beam towards the city and turned it entirely into gold.

"So the people here found the relic and it turned El Dorado into a golden paradise." Ethan said, eyeing the engravings.

"Wonder what happened to them." Samantha mumbled. A city like this would have been the center of the world, and for the residents to vanish into nothingness was very odd.

"Here. Nice headband, by the way." Ethan pointed to more engravings. It showed a king, angry at his people for not worshiping him and the object, which the two assumed was the relic, and turned the relic on a large group of dissenters, turning them into golden statues. The rest of the native people of El Dorado fled, leaving the king and his family to starve. In a moment of reconciliation, the king put the relic inside the pyramid, where he could not abuse its power.

"So the relic is inside here." Samantha said, putting her hand on the engravings, "I wonder where it could be."

Suddenly, the engravings opened up like a massive door and revealed a hidden room. The two stumbled back on instinct like a trap had just been activated, but it was not the case. Directly in the center of the hidden room was the relic itself, hovering above a column. The relic was a constantly shifting, iridescent ball of metal, but a quick look inside revealed that the sphere could split open to show the swirling, gold mass in the heart of the relic. Two handles orbited the ball at the sides.

Samantha's eyes glimmered at the sight of it. "Wow. It's so _pretty_."

"Why do I get the feeling that if we remove it, we're either gonna have El Dorado destroyed, or we're gonna fall into another trap." Ethan guessed to his friend, remembering all of the _Indiana Jones_ movies that he watched. This sort of relic hunting never ended well.

"Only one way to find out." Samantha leaned up and grabbed the relic by one of the handles and tugged, only now realizing that the relic was nearly _weightless._ The relic was as light as a feather. No wonder the ancient people here were able to use it on their entire city. "Huh. Cool." Samantha tossed the relic up like a ball, and it gently floated down right into her palms. It was about the size of a large boulder, yet it weighed almost nothing. She was starting to really like this relic.

"Are we dead yet?" Ethan said, who had covered his eyes the moment Samantha took the relic off of the pedestal.

"Nope. The city is fine, and we're fine as well." Samantha walked out, Ethan behind her. "I think this is my favorite relic. Imagine, turning anything you want into gold. I could turn your left arm into gold if you want."

"No thanks. Gold is nice, but it's really soft. Anything that hit me too hard would bend my arm like a wet noodle."

The two stopped in the middle of the street when they started to hear voices that definitely wasn't Decepticon.

"Why are we in a city made of gold?" _Broadside._

"This is where the relic is, duh! El Dorado, the mythical golden city of the conquistadors! It's gotta be here!" _Miko Nakadai._

"Hey Bulk, ever heard of a relic that could turn things into gold?" _Wheeljack._

"You're asking the wrong guy about relics, Jackie. I'm just here to smash Decepticon heads." _Bulkhead._

Three Wreckers and an Autobot human sympathizer. This didn't look good.

"Hide!" Ethan whispered and the two fled into an alleyway right as Broadside came up the street. The two climbed through a window into a building before Broadside could look down and see what was going on in the dark alleyway. The two Decepticons kept as quiet as possible, holding their breath to not let Broadside hear them or sense them. The triple changer stared down, and then left.

"Must be seeing things." He mumbled to himself and walked off. "You guys find anything yet?"

"C'mon, let's go!" Samantha pointed to the open door and the two snuck out, keeping to the alleyways right underneath the Autobot sensors. If they could just keep this up, and make sure that the relic also kept quiet, then they would be out of the city in no time at all. Creeping through the vines and the trees wasn't easy, as the slightest crunch or snap could alert the Autobots to them, and then they would be in serious trouble. Without Whirl, they knew they wouldn't kill them, but imprisonment or indoctrination back into human society wasn't pleasant for the duo. The Wreckers also had some serious vendettas against Samantha and Ethan, because they were the first of the two Stuntikids to have attacked their own humans, hence why Whirl came after them.

"Hurry! They're at the pyramid!" Ethan looked back to see that the three Wreckers were outside the pyramid, and watched as Miko went inside. "Shit! Shitty shit fuck! Samantha, we might have to make a run for it!"

"Why's that?"

"It's not here!" The two saw that Miko ran out, distress in her voice. "The Decepticons must have gotten it first!"

"But it's still in the vicinity according to the beacon." Broadside said, pointing towards the device in his hand. "That means, that the Decepticons might have it but they're still in here with us." He looked back down towards the device, re-calibrated it to have a system check, and realized that he had passed it. Suddenly shooting his head up, he saw that there were two humans climbing back up to the cave where they entered, with a strange thing in their hands.

"THERE! DECEPTICONS!" He pointed, and the four realized who they were. " _STUNTIKIDS!_ "

"We've been made, Sammy!" Ethan cried out.

"RUN FOR IT!" She screamed and the two ran out the cave and noticed that they were still in the hole. "Fucking climb!" She grabbed onto a root and climbed up as fast as she could, Ethan doing the same thing to another vine. The relic in her hands wasn't slowing her down, but it was still a hassle to get up. Samantha looked back to see that there were two cars and an Autobot triple-changer roaring across the city right towards her.

"Gimme the relic!" Ethan, who had made it up before Samantha did, reached down to grab the thing. She threw it up to him and he caught it, and then lowered his other hand to grab his friend and haul her out of the hole. And good timing too, because her communicator buzzed alive.

 _"Samantha, Ethan, I just got your notification. Do you have the relic?"_ Sprawl's voice spoke to them. Samantha grabbed her device right as they ran through an entanglement of vines. Ethan looked back to see Broadside jump up from the hole and point his huge rifle at them.

"We do! We also got Wreckers up our ass! Sprawl please fucking get us outta here!" Samantha screamed as the triple-changer fired at them, tearing through the jungle with massive explosive rounds. Ethan nearly tripped over his own feet, but caught himself in time as the two reached a clearing. It was also right in front of a cliff. The two teen looked down to see that it was a long way down towards the bottom. Ethan and Samantha looked at each other, the same thought in their heads.

"Are you thinking..." She began.

"About jumping off and praying that Sprawl catches us in time? Yes." He answered.

The two looked back to see that Wheeljack had cut his way clean through the vines and was almost at them. The relic in Samantha's hands hummed gently. The rest of the Wreckers were almost at them as well. They could see Broadside and Bulkhead tearing their way through the jungle, and hilariously Miko was doing the same thing, except with her teeth. They would have laughed if it wasn't terrifying.

"Hey Sprawl, you mind catching us?" Samantha laughed nervously into the communicator.

 _"Mind telling me what that means."_ The Warrior Elite responded, totally deadpan.

"You'll understand." Samantha said, and looked behind her to see that the Wreckers had cleared through the jungle. "You ready?"

"Might as well." Ethan shrugged and ran towards the cliff. Samantha whimpered and clutched the relic's handle, staring down at the cliffside. If Sprawl didn't catch them, they'd be dead. If the Autobots catch them, then they might as well be dead. Samantha sucked in her pride and her fear and followed her friend, running as fast as she could to get away from the Wreckers behind them.

And then they jumped, screaming on their way down.

"NO!" Broadside yelled, who had dived to grab them only to miss his chance. Seeing the two humans jump off a fragging cliff was shocking enough, but taking the relic with them was whole new level of crazy.

The feeling of weightlessness was something that was far from comfortable. It might as well be trying to force everything inside your body upwards towards your mouth. The screeching wind howling in your ears as your body tore through the windy skies above the land. Samantha and Ethan jumped, the two going total starfish in the air to try and create drag. So far, no sign of Sprawl. Very bad. They couldn't hear each other, the wind was simply drowning their ears. Samantha's grip on the relic was cast-iron, but through her vibrating eyes she could see the ground getting closer and closer.

Their trip towards the bottom was suddenly stopped by the arrival of a certain Warrior Elite who had watched the whole thing go down, literally, and caught them just before they could kiss their sorry asses goodbye. Frenzy and Rumble had also watched the two humans jump with Ravage behind them, who had been picked up on his way towards the humans. Speaking of the two humans, they slithered into the Warrior Elite's chassis like hungry centipedes. The first thing they noticed was the relic, that shimmering ball of metal that seemed to hover inches off the ground, and then the humans.

Ethan was missing his shirt, and the rest of his clothes were either soaking wet or smudged with layers of mud. Samantha wasn't faring much better, but her hair still had that golden shine to it. It was only under closer inspection that they realized that she was wearing a golden headband. The girl was also clutching her chest, hissing as the bruises from Whirl's manhandling and the anaconda finally caught up with her.

"You two are crazy!" Rumble roared with laughter. "Jumping off a cliff? Never thought I would ever see that!"

"It was his idea." Samantha gestured towards Ethan with a thumb.

"By the looks of it, you two certainly had a journey." Frenzy snickered. "I can't wait to hear about it."

The last thing she remembered was Ravage scolding them, and then she and her best friend passed out.

* * *

 _-the Nemesis-_

The six who ventured into the Amazon stood before their Lord and Master in her throne room. It was almost an hour after their return to the warship. Upon arrival, Wildrider and Drag Strip had immediately set out to find the group, and much to their happiness Samantha and Ethan had returned to the _Nemesis_ alive, but a little worse for wear. Ethan was still without a shirt and Samantha's bruises were starting to get to her. The relic had been delivered by Sprawl's hands to Megatron herself, and the six were currently awaiting her approval.

Shockwave was busy going over the relic itself, and Soundwave, as ever, stood loyally by her right.

"You did well, Stuntikids. Sprawl, Ravage, Frenzy and Rumble. You are relieved of duty for the next three solar cycles. Enjoy your break." Megatron awarded the four cybertronians who turned to leave. The minicon twins were whooping about their break while Ravage slowly walked over to Soundwave and crawled onto his back, reequipping himself onto the telepath. Sprawl nodded and left, probably going to the rec-room to get a drink.

"Sprawl told me how he managed to rescue you. Fleeing the Autobots in the jungle and making sure the relic stays out of their hands by jumping off a cliffside, ready to bet yourselves on the chance that Sprawl would catch you." Megatron admonished, sounding rather impressed with the dynamic duo. She smiled down at her human soldiers. Their craziness awarded the Decepticons yet another relic. "I'm truly impressed. Consider yourselves free for the next two weeks."

Samantha and Ethan felt their jaws drop to the ground.

"T-Thank you, my Lady!" Ethan bowed, overly happy, and the two ran out, heading towards the showers to clean themselves off. Samantha was limping halfway through, and Ethan was there to give her some support. The two smiled at each other, and then ran into someone standing in the hallway. Bridgette, who didn't look pleased at her scouter and medic standing there.

"Hey Bridge, what's up?" Samantha said, a smirk on her face. The sight of the two were so ridiculous that their commander almost lost her composure.

"You two are the craziest, most demented and downright _stupidest_ people I know." Bridgette growled out, but then smiled herself. "Congrats on getting the relic, you psychos." She leaned down to hug the duo, smothering them in her bountiful chest. The two felt their faces flush as they could feel the soft warm flesh cover their faces through the fabric. She was just happy that the two had made it back alive and mostly unscathed, as any good commander should be.

"Thanks Bridge. Mind letting me go? I have a date with the shower." Samantha said and hurried on over towards her room, leaving the commander and the medic together. The moment she was gone, Bridgette leaned down and drew Ethan up to a kiss. He returned it gracefully, and her hands found his shoulders to rub gently.

"Mmph, I needed that." Bridgette said after parting her lips from his. "Frenzy told me how you guys got away."

"I figured." Ethan responded.

"You're a crazy little badass, you know that right?" She smiled down at him and laughed. "Jumping off a cliff. Do you have any brain cells in your head?"

"Maybe. I don't get paid to think." He smiled back and pecked her cheek.

"You little fucker, I can't wait for Wildrider to hear about this."

Ethan's smiled instantly fell into a wide-eyed expression of pure _fear._ Wildrider looked like she was ready to blow a gasket when they got back to the warship. It was only the urgency of getting the relic into Megatron's hands, and a couple warnings from Sprawl, for her to back off momentarily, but he knew that she would be on his ass the moment she saw him again. Bridgette saw the fear in his eyes and rolled her own.

"Oh _relax_. I'm sure she's happy to know that you're alive."

"Well, no shit I am." The two looked back to see that the Ferrari had been listening in to their conversation. "Do you know how worried I was when Sprawl reported that you two went missing in that jungle? I was sparkbroken!"

"We didn't go missing, for fuck's sake!" Ethan yelled at her, and she giggled.

"Yes we did!"

"Eat shit Sammy! Ravage was with us almost the whole time! I have proof!"

And then it went downhill from there.

* * *

 **Over 9K word chapter done.**

 **See you all soon.**


	4. Fury

_-Nova Scotia-_

The team that was commanded by Turmoil had just landed on the peninsula during the affair with Sprawl's team in the Amazon and Wildrider returning with a near-dead Airachnid. The tank-former had been wise to bring his entire cadre, or at least the troops he had brought with him to Earth when he had arrived. Flanking his rear was Takedown and Dropkick. The navy blue fighter jet was currently talking to the bomb expert about the possibility of what the relic could be about, which Turmoil had droned out as background noise. Meanwhile, Fearswoop and Snare had taken off into the atmosphere to get a birds-eye view of the island and pinpoint the relic's location. Skywarp had lagged behind, and was now acting up behind Turmoil.

To his left, there was Breakdown and his little human talking to each other. Turmoil thought it was truly strange that the Decepticons, let alone the Stunticons, had taken in human support for the war effort. His strategist mind was speaking to him that getting a few of the natives who knew the planet better than they did on their side was definitely a sound strategy, but the Stunticons? They were wildcards. Deviants.

Then again, so were the humans that aligned with them. Based on background information that Snare had given him, the little human that Breakdown had was named Holly Griffin, who came into the Decepticons after Breakdown found her in the middle of nowhere. Turns out her entire family, mother and father and little sister, had died in an inferno in what was once her family's gymnasium while she had gone off to somewhere else. After that horrible accident she'd spent some years in illegal fight clubs which gave her the scar-filled face that she now owned. It was also during that time that she'd made a knack for fireworks and discovered her sadistic side.

Holly was definitely interesting to study. Her appreciation for Breakdown stemmed from the loss of her own family and her inability to save them. Becoming a Decepticon filled her with another purpose rather than fighting for entertainment. Her road into the Decepticons was not a happy one, as Turmoil discovered. She had many times tried to gain leadership, probably to fill the proverbial hole in her chest from losing her real family and didn't want them to follow the same path. Their current leader Bridgette had to literally beat the girl into submission to make her stop. It definitely worked, considering that other observations have told him that Holly was a very loyal second in command to the Stuntikids.

Her sadism was only evident during her fights, but it became one of her more remarkable traits. Turmoil, once again, found himself impressed with the Stuntikid leader's intelligence in making the most violent of the group her right-hand woman, because of the intimidation factor and show of strength. Holly no longer had the vie for power that she once did, replaced with finding whoever did wrong against the Decepticons and beating them into a stain on her knuckles.

"Hey, uh, general, any response from Snare or Fearswoop?" Breakdown asked. Truth be told, the Stunticon was rightly scared of the brown and silver tank-former. Talking to him took major brass bearings. "No offense but, erm, we've been walking in this plain for about a minicycle."

"Would you like to scout ahead and pinpoint the relic? Either Fearswoop or Snare will tell me if they had found it." Turmoil asked, turning from his televised channel on his arm cannon to the Stunticon. "Take Skywarp with you," He gestured behind him with a thumb, "he's needing of some excitement. I can tell."

"Okay. You fine with 'Warp, Holly?" Breakdown asked his charge.

"I'm down with it. He can teleport." She responded.

"FINALLY!" Skywarp shouted and put his arm around Breakdown in joy. "I can stop being a fragging anchor and do something! So, Breaky, whaddya want to do now that tall dark and gloomy over here let me off the hook?" The Seeker was far too happy to be relaxing for Breakdown. Holly was too busy giggling like a schoolgirl.

"Uh, teleport us here?" Breakdown pointed towards his holo-map.

"M'kay! Hold on to your butts!" He grabbed Breakdown and Holly and the three vanished in a brilliant purple light. Turmoil shielded his optics as the trio teleported away.

"Good riddance."

...

 _VWOP!_

"-and that's how I graduated from the Vosian Academy!" Skywarp finished his tale inside his teleport as the three immediately found themselves in the middle of a park in Halifax. As soon as the three landed, Breakdown clutched his stomach and vomited out a dribble of energon. Teleporting had always been not on Breakdown's side. Holly wasn't faring any different as she sucked in air, trying to keep her breakfast down inside. Skywarp looked at the commotion the two were causing and chuckled.

"Lightweights." He sneered. "Alright Breakdown, here's the deal. I fly around the area and see if I can get anything on my radar. You and your little girl over there," Skywarp turned his head to hear Holly puking on the ground, "track the relic and pinpoint it. And clean yourselves up. I don't want vomit on the relic." And with that, he took off into the sky and vanished into a purple light.

"Ugh, that sucked." Holly spat, spitting out some gunk in her teeth. "So, where to next?"

"We're in the middle of the city. Don't think the relic's here, Holly."

"You never know." She replied softly with a shrug. Breakdown responded by transforming into the all-terrain truck and opened his door. Holly stepped inside and laid back as Breakdown drove off into the city of Halifax, with him driving.

As Holly leaned against the window, she couldn't help but think one thing...

Where was Hun?

* * *

 _Nearly three months ago..._

 _"Ever been to a gym, hot stuff?" Holly elbowed the large boy next to her, who was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Holly was unrelenting in her compliments, and the poor lad had never experienced this level of confident flirting. His face mimicked that of a strawberry, and if one could see closely steam was hissing out of his ears. His time in space had completely isolated him from the opposite sex of his own species, sans Earheart, and even if she was his type her hostile attitude was an immense turn-off._

 _Holly was different. She was brutal yet kind at the same time. Her completely domineering mood exhumed a sense of confidence that oozed awesome, and Hun couldn't help but want to be around Holly all the time._

 _But he knew that he was walking a very fine line. The only one who knew he was dating the enemy was Achilles. Even his eldest brother Leonidas didn't know. If they found out on his dating one of the Stuntikids, their supposed rivals, he'd be in deep doo-doo. And to make matters worse, Holly didn't even know he was an Autobot, lest alone a Dinobrat. He didn't want to think about that. If **she** found out..._

 _It'd be over._

 _And he didn't want it to be over. Holly was such an amazing woman and he was already obsessing with her._

 _"No. Not really. I stayed fit by..." Hun thought of an excuse, "...football. A lot of football at my old school."_

 _"Oh, cool. Where'd you go?" Holly asked, and Hun bit his tongue._

 _"New Mexico." He said quickly, thinking of the last known location he had picked up when he was at school._

 _"Really?" Holly raised an eyebrow. "Oh man, I couldn't imagine the summers there. I'm from upstate Maine, so I'm very much a person built for cold." Holly said as she and Hun entered her gym. The front entrance was a creamy marble laden with blue lights that reached down to the floor. There were two flights of stairs on either side of the room, one going up and the other leading to a basement. At the front desk was a black woman, typing away at something at her desk computer. The moment she laid eyes on the duo she smiled at the familiar scarred face._

 _"Holly! What's up, girl?" She said, reaching over to shake her hand. Her vision turned to Hun and stared at his incredibly impressive body. "Hey Holly, who's the hunk?"_

 _Hun hid his face behind his face as it began to glow red. This was too much for him. Thankfully, Holly was there to save his embarrassed ass._

 _"This is Hun. Hun Slug." She answered, and the front desk woman seemed queer about the boy's last name._

 _"Slug? Really?" She asked._

 _"C'mon Lake, it's cool. It's like a shotgun slug, not the frigging animal." Holly explained, and the woman now revealed as Lake nodded in acknowledgement. Hun was thanking whatever gods were above that Holly was quick on the draw. Alone, he probably would have just stood there and nervously stammer out something stupid._

 _"You two here for the typical?" Lake asked, taking Holly's credit card._

 _"Yeah, and make it two." Holly said, nodding back to Hun. Lake quickly swiped her card, unknown to her that it was hacked. All of the Stuntikids' card were hacked with fake money thanks to the brilliance of Soundwave, who knew just how much money a human could spend. Hun, however, was dead-broke for now. He was thinking of asking Fowler for an allowance. The man was practically acting like the human father that he never had._

* * *

"Holly, we've got something." Holly was knocked out of her stupor by Breakdown talking to her. She'd been so drawn into her own memories that she hadn't known that they had entered the city of Halifax completely without her knowing. She blinked and looked around the city. If anything, she could see that they were in an upper-class suburb with a bunch of people walking around completely unaware of the alien beneath their noses. Some were taking pictures of Breakdown, impressed with his alt-mode. "The relic's been moved somewhere in Halifax."

 _"Do you hear that, girl?"_ Turmoil's voice came out of Breakdown's inner radio. _"The scans shown on the Nemesis were late, and it looks like the humans dug up the damn thing and put it somewhere in the city. It's about a click away from your position according to my tracker. I'll have Soundwave bridge us to the city soon."_

Holly reached over and responded. "Gotcha, Turmoil. Mind sending your fliers over here in case of Autobots?"

 _"They're already on their way. And be warned, I think the Autobots are on their way as well."_ Turmoil advised and then turned off his end.

"You think we should wait for the others to catch up?" Holly asked, but then realized that it would be stupid. "Nevermind, we should just wait for them there."

"Holly, you seem distracted." Breakdown said. "Are you feeling alright? I know I'm not good with talking about feelings but I try my best."

"Well... I'm seeing someone." Holly rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Breakdown would have blinked were it not for him being in vehicle form. "Uh. Okay. So, how is it?"

Holly sighed.

* * *

 _"Hun, listen to me, this is stupid. No, fuck that. This is BEYOND STUPID." Hun winced at his sister's tone. He had returned home to Omega One after him and Holly's visit to her gym. Turns out the "regular" was a two kilometer run with bench presses afterwards. Hun admitted that exercising with his new friend was invigorating and felt wonderful for his arms and legs. After they had left, Hun told Holly that his family was expecting him, and the two parted ways. When he had returned home, he had told them what had happened. Needless to say, it wasn't going well._

 _"Just give me a chance here, guys." Hun whined, burying his face into his hands._

 _"She's a Decepticon! Y'know, the bad guys! For Primus's sake Hun use your brain!" Apache yelled at him. Finding out that his brother was dating the enemy was one thing, but the fact that she had no idea that he was an Autobot was bound to bring trouble._

 _"I'm with Apache on this." Hun stared up to see his leader and eldest brother Leo with his arms across his chest. "Hun, you're gonna have to dump Holly."_

 _"NO!" Hun shot up angrily. How could they? They helped him find the girl of his dreams and now they wanted him to just throw her away? "What's wrong with you all? Achilles, I thought you were on my side on this! You were the one to help me meet with her in the first place!"_

 _"I was kidding!" Achilles shrieked back. "Good god almighty you thought I was serious?!"_

 _"Well, I'm not dumping her!" Hun said, furious at his brethren for this. He was too far down this road to accept defeat._

 _"Hun, you have no idea what kind of trouble this could spell out." Leo said, trying to play the strategy game against his foolishly in-love brother. Hun might not be that bright, but he was still capable of smart moments from time to time. "Let's say that we, if we, let you continue this disaster. Okay? And then the Decepticons capture you? What then?"_

 _"I'll fight my way out." Hun answered, and fell right for Leo's trap._

 _"And if Holly's there? She doesn't know, does she?"_

 _For once, Hun was silent._

 _"That's why this can't go on." Leo reasoned, and Hun knew that his elder brother was right in all aspects. But his heart yearned for the Stuntikid bruiser. He felt complete with her, if it was an accurate description. "Holly's going to find out that you're an Autobot and that this could only lead to utter ruin. Does Slug even know about this? He's gonna go fucking ballistic when he hears about it!"_

 _Faced with the ever-mounting realization that this will only lead to trouble, Hun had no other choice._

 _"Fine. I'll do it."_

 _It was the worst sentence he ever said._

* * *

"The Halifax Museum of Archaeology." Holly read the massive letters on the building, which was surprisingly in English as well as French. The building itself was incomplete, half surrounded by scaffolding, construction vehicles and materials. Because of the dying light of day, it seemed that it was pretty much empty. There were a couple people that walked around, but they were of no importance. Holly hopped out of Breakdown and leisurely strolled to the building. A chain-link fence was all that stood in her way. That is until Breakdown transformed and lifted the fence like a castle gate.

"Thanks." She said to her guardian, who smiled and tossed the fence away. Thanks to the building being incomplete, Breakdown was able to follow Holly inside. It was massive and very modern, with white marble tiles and cerulean walls. There were no lights, but Breakdown activated his headlights and the lobby was suddenly crystal clear to the young human.

"Alright, lobby entrance, so that means everything's still in storage." Holly surmised, and turned to her guardian. "Breakdown, you mind handing me my wrench?"

Said tool clanged on the floor.

"Hand it. Hand. I didn't say drop it."

"It's fine." Breakdown said and his shoulder cannon cocked open. "I'm gonna patrol the outer areas, see if there's any Autobots nearby." And with that he left his charge in the unfinished the museum. Holly ventured forward, paying attention to the signs posted on the walls to get to storage. Finally, a STORAGE sign appeared before a large pair of wooden double doors. She smirked. This was getting too easy for her. She was hoping that there was a fight sooner or later. She could use the stress relief. Maybe decking Miko in the face could sate her needs for violence, if the Japanese girl ever came here.

Holly opened the doors to reveal huge artifacts of Nordic origins, from statues to crosses to simple tools dug up from the peat bogs that once existed on Nova Scotia. Holly guessed that the relic at least must be one of these things. Her tracker had a continuous beeping that intensified the deeper she searched in storage. Her flashlight shined on, showing more and more artifacts that were obviously made by ancient humans.

"It's gotta be around here..." She whispered to herself as the tracker finally made a constant ringing, indicating that she was right on top of it.

"Got it." She eyed the prize; a shield, decorated with Cybertronian hieroglyphics and colored a dark steel. It was propped up against the wall, right next to two statues who were holding it upwards. It was also the size of a small car. Holly radioed for Breakdown, but found out that all she got was static. She also saw the the museum's description of the shield. Staring at the fifteen-foot tall piece of armor, Holly felt small compared to it and wondered how she was going to get this thing out without the help of Breakdown or any other Decepticon on Nova Scotia.

"Great. How am I supposed to do this?" Holly said out loud, and crossed her arms.

And she would have were it not for someone to suddenly tackle her like a linebacker. Holly barely had time to register anything that happened before she impacted the floor hard. As soon as she landed her hands found the body of her attacker and pried him off of her, and then launched him with a kick straight to the sternum. The attacker was sent sailing for a good three seconds before crashing down. Hoisting herself up, she recognized a familiar face.

"Well well, if it ain't Darby." She sneered at the Jasper resident. The Jack Darby that she knew wouldn't have _dared_ to do anything that stupid to a Stuntikid, let alone Holly Griffin. Looks like he was getting some support back at the Autobot base. He pulled himself up and readied into a combat stance, something she had never seen before. "What, you took karate as a kid?" She laughed and put her fists up, ready to give Darby plenty of knuckle sandwiches.

"Call it intuition." He shot back, and charged at her.

"Oh, _come on._ " She rolled her eyes and sent a kick straight for Darby's legs, only for him to jump over her attack and roll away. Holly grunted in annoyance. "I assume that Arcee's around here as well? She'll make good target practice for Breakdown, y'know."

"She's tougher than you think, Griffin." He replied, and ran at Holly once again, tucking in a fist to nail her in the jaw. Unfortunately for him, he whiffed and completely missed as Holly leaned sideways to avoid Jack's attack. The moment he saw his fist missing Holly's face, he knew that he was in major trouble. And he was rewarded by Holly kneeing him in the stomach. The impact sent Jack backwards, clutching his gut and trying to suck in air.

"Mind telling me where all this bravado came from?" Holly asked, curious to why Jack of all people was attacking her in the first place. She didn't give him time to answer as she socked him across the face with a mighty swing that nearly toppled him, but sent him flying with a powerful kick straight to the sternum. He landed on his back with a solid thud.

"If you're trying to impress me by how much I'm kicking your ass, I'm not impressed." She plainly said to him. Jack grit his teeth and charged, only to be picked up by Holly and tossed away, his smaller weight easily making him more throw-able. Holly watched as he smashed into an ancient cross, which fell over with a solid _smash_ as Jack stood up again. Holly scowled at the sight of Jack constantly getting up from her thrashes.

"God, you **suck**!" She spat out, her anger rising. "Haven't I knocked you around enough already, just lie down and take your lumps like a man!"

"You know, giving up isn't the Autobot way." Jack replied, raising his fists again. Thanks to Leo's training, he was able to have some fighting skills, but he'd clearly overestimated himself and bet on Holly not being as skillful as she once was due to not having any clear opponents. He'd hoped she'd be rusty and sloppy at fighting, which clearly wasn't the case. She still had the strength of an ape and the speed of a cheetah. But there was no way he'd let her win, not with the relic this close.

"I heard that losing _is._ " Holly shot back and charged, barreling into him like a freight train and crushed him against the wall. Jack coughed up saliva as she hammered his gut with her fists and backed off, eyeing her rewards. "Y'know, I wish there were more Autobot humans. Not more of you, per say, but people who knew how to fight, because you couldn't fight to save your life."

"That's why I decided to start fighting." He replied, warily, due to his injuries. Holly raised an eyebrow. "You don't care _who_ you hurt, Holly. You'll attack anyone who dares to get in your way, much like a Decepticon you've become. The years I've known you, you've beaten me down and kicked me around simply because I was _there._ You hear me, Holly?! NO MORE!" Jack suddenly stood up strong, his eyes and body ablaze with righteous vengeance against the Stuntikid. "I'll fight you, because someone has to! Someone has to take you down!"

"Bravo. Impressive speech. Did you write that on your own or did Arcee help you?" Holly sneered and clapped lamely. Jack screamed in rage and ran straight for Holly, the girl not even trying to put up any sort of defenses. She parried his fist with a strong slap and punched him in the eye. "Useless! You fight as though you want me to beat you silly!" She laughed as Jack slowly got up, determination in his soul to stop this madwoman from getting the relic. His left eye was already swollen and his breathing was labored, signs that she was winning this battle. She charged again, but this time she let Jack hit her in the face, just to get a feel of what might be behind his punches. Sure, it hurt when his fist collided with his cheek, but she had an ace; she was _used to it._ Jack, was not. He found that out the hard way when she completely shrugged off his attack with a fist right in the throat.

Holly smirked as began to reign blow after blow on Jack, aiming for his face, chest and shoulders. Her smirk turned to a grin, which then became loud, hideous laughter.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER DARBY?!" She cackled and socked him the chin, sending him to the floor. "CAN'T YOU _HIT ME!?_ "

Jack tried to get back up, but a kick from Holly sent him back down.

" _Worthless!_ You couldn't kill a fruit fly!" Holly laughed, and walked over the relic. Her hand found the center of the shield, which was suddenly coated in lightning and shrunk down to her size in a matter of seconds. The shield was quite heavy, but she was managing the weight well. "Huh, a mass-shifting shield. Not my forte, but a cool find anyway. Thanks for the easy game, Autobot." She mockingly thanked the nearly unconscious Darby, and would have left were it not for someone else to make their appearance with a single word.

" _HOLLY!_ "

 _That voice!_ Holly instantly turned around and saw that none other than _Hun_ was standing there, glaring at the woman. The shock of seeing him here in Nova Scotia overrode her brain from fighting back as a single punch from the muscular boy sent her and the shield flying away. Hun the time to make sure Darby was alive.

"C'mon Jack, get up!" Hun urged the weakened lad, who was somehow still alive. "Get out of here, I'll take Holly."

"Hun," Jack coughed up some saliva and blood, "she's strong. _Really strong_. Don't hold back on her."

"Wasn't planning on it." Hun responded as Darby left the museum to get back to safety. Hun turned around to see that Holly had risen up, and the sheer rage that was evident in her eyes was almost enough to make Hun piss his pants. But he couldn't lose it here. The relic had to come to the Autobots. So far, they hadn't captured a single one. He hoped that this time would be different.

"YOU..." Holly seethed, nearly shaking in her fury. "You're an Autobot, after all this time?! No wonder you wanted to get close to me! You wanted to see if I was weak!" Holly's brain was so inflamed with anger she wasn't thinking clearly, her vision turning so bloody red that she could barely make out the slightly shaken Hun. Without warning, and grabbing the shield across her arm, she threw the shield with all her might. It missed, but only by a hair's width. Hun barely had time to make sure he was fine before Holly charged like a rhino at him, her anger blinding her from seeing that Hun had prepared for this event.

He twisted his body and tripped her, and as soon as she landed he was right on top of her, twisting her arms behind her body and effectively pinning her to the floor.

"YOU _BASTARD!_ I knew there was something wrong about you!" Holly shrieked and Hun had to push her down from all her squirming. "Fucking Autobots! All you care about is yourselves! I bet you were planning to stab me in the back!"

"Holly, please! Stop this!" Hun yelled back, emotion in his voice. Having to fight the girl who he had thought was the one was painful enough, but hearing her scream all these hateful things at him was almost unbearable.

"Stop what? Trying to win? Trying to make sure that my side is victorious? Just stop fighting, is that what you want?" She responded, stopping her momentum beneath Hun to regain some strength in her. "I guess going out with you meant _nothing_ , right? What a stupid thing. Going out with the enemy."

"Holly." He said, trying to fight back the swelling tears. "Please. I don't want to fight you."

"Too bad." She twisted her body around, throwing Hun off guard and kicked him off her. She vaulted back on to her feet, prepared to give the Autobot a beating. Hun clutched his injured chest, hissing in pain.

 _Jack was right, she is strong!_ A fist interrupted his thoughts and connected straight to his jaw, and then a second landed right on target. Hun wobbled, the strikes that Holly were giving, fueled by rage, were faster and stronger than he could have dreamed of. He was barely able to parry her moves from landing on his body, her fists having so much power behind them that they were almost overwhelming, but Hun wasn't a pushover. He found a single window of opportunity; Holly had jumped back to relax her arms and he took it, sending a over-kick right at her. She countered with her own leg, and the two limbs collided with a loud smack. Holly tucked her leg back first and allowed Hun a moment of relief.

"At least you put up a fight, Hun. Darby couldn't even put a bruise on my cheek." She ran at him, but instead of using her fists, her feet found themselves planted at Hun's chest in a powerful dropkick that sent the boy backwards. "All this time, you were some sort of agent. Some lowly little _asshole_ who thought it would be okay to play me like a harmonica." She curled her lip in disgust at the man in front of her.

"I didn't want it to be this way!" Hun screamed at her, causing the Decepticon to furrow her eyebrows. "I didn't want to fight you! I wanted us to be happy together! I didn't care that you were a Decepticon, I didn't! All I wanted was to be someone special to you!" The emotions bottling up were finally let loose, and Hun had no other choice. Holly had beaten him. "I just," He couldn't bring himself to deny it any longer, "I love you Holly. I really do."

Holly stared at him for some time, and responded.

"Then your love is misplaced." And with that, she sent a devastating kick straight to his head.

 _Holly. Leo. Slug. Please. I'm sor-_

And then it was over.

...

The streets outside the museum had turned straight into a warzone. Breakdown had long intercepted Arcee before Holly and Jack had their little spar, and the two were of the many fights going on inside the city. Turmoil's cadre, Skywarp included, had arrived at Halifax to battle the Autobots that have also arrived. Currently, there were two battles, one in the air and another on the ground. Brainstorm and Shadowraid had taken to the skies to fight Fearswoop and Skywarp. Snare had touched down on the ground to help out the general as he battled the Autobot ground forces, which included Optimus Prime and a couple other Autobots.

"Turmoil, cease and desist!" Optimus shouted, unsheathing his arm blades and charging the one-armed Decepticon. Turmoil gleefully returned by firing his cold-fusion cannon at the Prime. Optimus easily evaded the shot and would have sliced Turmoil's head off if the Decepticon hadn't brought his arm up in time.

"You're weak, Optimus!" Turmoil yelled back, kicking away the Prime. "Megatron will be victorious!"

" _Hurah!_ " Arcee yelled out, landing a kick on Breakdown's chassis that stumbled the heavy Stunticon. Breakdown swung his hammer, but couldn't hit the small two-wheeler. Arcee was far too fast and nimble to be hit by anything Breakdown could throw at her, so he opted for his missile launcher. His targeting was sloppy, but the explosive impact that landed near Arcee was enough to send her back.

"Why don't you make this easy, Arcee?" Breakdown chuckled, and hurled at car at her. "Think fast!"

Thankfully, she was able to avoid being crushed and jumped out of the way, and got a message in her comm-link.

 _"Arcee, it's Slug. I can't get Hun to respond inside the museum. Jack's here, and he's pretty damn hurt."_ Arcee's optics went wide. She transformed and peeled out of her battle between Breakdown in a cloud of smoke.

 _"Hey Break, it's Holly. Package secured."_ Coincidentally, Holly had also called Breakdown when Arcee had left. Grinning to himself, he turned to Turmoil just in time to see Holly hauling ass with the shield in her arms. She ran as fast as she could to her guardian.

"Turmoil!" Said tank-former turned around right after decking Optimus with an uppercut. "We've got it! Let's get out of here!"

"Until next time, Prime." He seethed, still remembering his defeat in California. "Decepticons! The relic is ours! Return to the _Nemesis_!" Turmoil announced on all Decepticons channels as he himself transformed and left the battlefield, the relic in their hands. The fliers were the first to leave, screaming across the skies away from the battle. Everyone on the ground, including Breakdown, were rewarded with a ground-bridge nearby, following them was blaster fire on their afts. Optimus and his troops realized that it was to no use, and stopped firing once the Decepticons left, the relic with them.

"Optimus..." He turned around and to his horror, Slug held both Jack and Hun in his arms. Both of them were severely bruised, a huge mark on Hun's face and black-blue smudges on Jack's skin. Jack was clearly unconscious, and Hun's eyes were fluttering open and closed, both of them moaning in pain. The Dinobot seemed angered at the sight of the two humans so beaten up. Arcee was close by, clenching her denta in fury. The moment she saw the two boys she knew who was responsible.

"Who did this?" The Prime asked.

"Holly." Arcee steamed, creating a fist. "That human Decepticon. Beat them to a pulp."

"A traitor to her own species." Warpath added on, putting his hands on his hips.

"Optimus, we _have_ to do something about the Stuntikids." Arcee argued to her leader. For too long they had been merciful to the human defectors. Sparing them, imprisoning them, and yet they didn't show the slightest in joining the Autobots and leaving Megatron. Optimus had hoped that sharing compassion to them, they would change, but over the years it was apparent that it was totally for naught. Optimus had weighed heavily on the options, even calling in his officers to see if they could provide some insight on what they should do with such loyal human Decepticons. It all ended with either one of two options; imprison them in human prison, or treat them as true Decepticons and have them killed.

"Autobots, return to base. We have much to discuss."

* * *

 _-the Nemesis-_

"Excellent find, Turmoil. The Decepticons have been blessed with a string of victories." Megatron congratulated the general on returning to the warship with the relic in hand. She carefully hefted the shield, which had grown back to Cybertronian size. The warlord then gave it to Shockwave, who took it back to his laboratory for study and affiliation with any name that it might have. It would serve the Decepticons better if they knew just what they had uncovered. "Continue your efforts flawlessly as you have done now, general."

"Yes, my Lady." Turmoil and his troops bowed respectively and left her.

However, the situation was very different at the rec-room.

"What do I tell them?" Holly wondered out loud, leaning on the wall right next to the huge double door. There was no reason to sugarcoat anything that she would tell, but this was something new. Were the Stuntikids prepared for something like this? The Autobots were enlisting human help from who knows where, and she _dated_ one! Granted, it wasn't for very long, but it was still considered a date that she took with the enemy. Holly pinched her brow, thinking of Hun's final words before she dropped him.

 _"I wanted to be someone special to you!"_ Holly clenched her jaw tightly.

 _What a load of blow._ Holly seethed internally. _Forget him Holly, he ain't worth it._

Holly sighed to herself and forced her mind to forget the human Autobot for now. Right now she had a report to fill in that she knew Bridgette would not enjoy. She opened the doors and saw that the other Stuntikids were sitting there on the couch. Samantha and Ethan were still injured after their adventure in the Amazon, as she could see bandages on their bodies poking out of their clothes. Zoey was busy playing a computer game while the two next to her were watching a movie on the huge television. Her commander, ever wondering where her second might be, was leaning on the wall, awaiting.

"How'd it go?" Bridgette said curtly. She'd gotten the report that they were able to secure the relic, but a side note from Breakdown told her that something was wrong with Griffin. He'd noted that she _"was on the verge of tears"_ the moment she'd entered him in vehicle form. That struck a cord in Bridgette. Holly _never_ cried. Ever.

"I think you should sit down for this, Bridge." Holly said, before dropping the bombshell.

* * *

 _-Earth's moon-_

"Sir, the destroyers are in position. Shall we execute?"

"No, not yet." One of his tentacles drifted over to the console on his throne and pictured a city, one of the hundreds on the little planet in front of them. "Let's issue a test run first, to see if this planet really is as dangerous as it seems." He pressed a couple holographic buttons on the right arm rest, commanding a single ship to fly down to the planet and gauge the defenses that this world might have.

"Let us see if this city will bring out humanity's teeth..." He mumbled to himself as the ship separated from the huge control platform, stretching nearly fifty miles wide, ten miles long and decorated with antennas, cannons, and a huge central tower. The ship that disembarked, a corkscrew-styled chrome destroyer, engaged its boosters and went right for the surface, the destination locked on to the onboard computers.

 _Chicago._

* * *

 **I suck at romance. And keeping track. Hopefully there'll be something to motivate me faster in the future.**

 **See you soon.**


	5. Allies

_-the Nemesis Armory-_

"What is your assessment of the three relics, Shockwave?" Megatron looked down at the three objects before her on the table. The armory of the _Nemesis_ was brightly lit and clean, filled to the brim with weapons of all sorts and sizes. Though many Decepticons used internal weaponry, some used the guns that were basically given for free here. Currently Megatron, Shockwave and Sprawl were overlooking the newest additions to the Decepticon war effort; the blue and black cube, the floating orb of gold, and the mass-shifting shield.

Megatron turned her attention towards the giant Warrior Elite to her left. Sprawl was here to act as the historian for the small group, to see if there were any facts that the warship's databanks have overlooked given as he's been around for over seventy million years. As she continued to stare at him she couldn't help but think about her Warrior Elite's own history in both the Decepticon armada and his personal life. The black and chrome Decepticon triple-changer was certainly a blessing to the ranks, his heavy sleek body armed to the brim with weaponry. She couldn't see what his face was doing due to his mask, but she knew that behind the vents and razor-thin visor she knew he was focused entirely on the relics. She was grateful that the Warrior Elite was as driven to win the war as she was.

The same couldn't be said about his best friend. Overlord had made it abundantly clear that he wasn't just going to sit down and be a member of Phase Six without a word. Megatron could only guess what had happened to him after she issued her warning right to his face; either comply or have her hunt him down to the ends of the galaxy. He'd taken her threat quite seriously, dropping off the proverbial map right after finishing his battle with the Autobots on some other planet. If he was dead, she didn't really care. If he was alive, then he'd be an issue she'd deal with later in life.

"The relic that the second group retrieved as been identified, my Liege." Shockwave answered, and stood in front of the hovering artifact. "It appears to be some sort of ancient matter mutation device, specifically the transformation of ordinary objects into a refined metal."

"It's called an Infared Caster." Sprawl spoke up, leaning down to pick up the comparatively tiny thing in one of his massive hands. "The ancient minicon tribes of Luna-1 used it to protect their spacecraft and astronauts from radiation from Cybertron's sun and the moon. However only a handful were built considering gold is quite heavy and soft, so launching it into space was cumbersome. Only a handful of Infared Casters were built, and right now we have one of the few still functional."

"So it turns anything it touches into gold as protection against solar radiation." Megatron said out loud. This device might have its uses in engineering and repair for the warship. Constantly traveling in and out of an atmosphere required plenty of care and repairing. The _Nemesis_ had many vehicon repair crews in her hulls ready to maintain the stability of the ship. The Infared Caster would be a good bonus.

"We can use it for more than just radiation protection, my Lady. Gold is a highly efficient conductor of electrical currents. This could be used to help repair and even upgrade our on-board computers and central processing," Shockwave said to her, "It would be logical to allow the repair teams to use the Infared Caster as a supplementary tool to help upgrade our systems."

"Agreed. Shockwave, tally the caster for later use for repairs to the ship's hardware. I want it fixed by the end of this Earth week."

"As you wish, my Lady."

While the now named Infared Caster was no weapon of mass destruction, Megatron wasn't going to just give up any advantage that she could have. This could be used to simply better the warship's functionality, something she had no problem with. The warlord turned her attention towards the black and blue cube resting right next to the Infared Caster. At first, it seemed like the Allspark, but the Allspark was a cube of pure energy, not a solid object.

"And what might this be?" Megatron said, picking up the small cube with her forefinger and thumb. As soon as she touched it, it suddenly grew in size to fit the palm of her hand. "Mass shifting?"

"The warship's records indicate that this artifact was used during the reign of Nova Prime, my Lady." Shockwave began, and took the object from her. "Unfortunately, other than dating, we have no idea what this artifact is or what it does."

"I do." Sprawl spoke up. "It's called a Reverse Battery."

"A power source?"

"No, it's - perhaps a bit of history would help." Sprawl said. "After the Age of Wrath ended and Nova Prime established himself as the first modern Prime, he set out to recolonize and repopulate Cybertron to get the Cybertronian race back on its collective feet. It took centuries, but eventually society was rebuilt. He then began the Expansion, which was to spread the influence of Cybertron and make it the galaxy's crown jewel. However, he couldn't do it with a small, set population, so he ordered his scientists to take... _drastic measures_ to grow the masses."

Megatron stared at the Reverse Battery in Shockwave's hand.

"Let me guess. It turned one gender into another," She said in mild disgust. To think that something like this was built sent revolt down her spine. She could only imagin what the femmes of old had to go through with the population of Cybertron so low back then. Sprawl might have had his fair share of women ready for his pleasure. She shook her head of these thoughts. Now was not the time.

"Correct, primarily male to female. Kind of like you, Megatron," said warlord turned to glare at him. "Perhaps that was a little unprofessional. My apologies."

"Did it work?" Shockwave asked.

"Oh it worked. It was believed the Cybertronian population quintupled after Jhiaxus and his scientists built these things. They became obsolete when normal mating, increased hotspots and constructed cold Cybertronians began to grow in popularity as well. I'm surprised one has survived this long. They tend to break easily."

"How does it work?"

"Simple," Sprawl took the Battery from Shockwave. "You have to put it on your sparkchamber. It'll then completely rewrite your CNA sequence along with your chromosomes and literally transform anyone wearing the Battery into a femme. Thankfully it doesn't turn you into a full-fledged pleasure drone. Its supposed to rearrange the chassis to the most likely body of which you _might have_ been a female."

"And how do you know that?" Megatron had to ask.

"Several of my friends, during the time of Nova, used Reverse Batteries. They said it was for the cause, but I'm pretty sure they were just looking to get laid no matter what. We were supposed to "honor" their "sacrifices", but it was an everyday thing back then." Sprawl shook his head and stared down at the artifact in his hand. "People loved these things, the desperate, the lonely, they all lined up to use a Battery. I commended their efforts, but over time the shine these things had lost their luster. You wouldn't believe how many brothels opened up on Cybertron back then. I never visited one, never really struck my fancy."

"It wouldn't be the first time body tourism became a thing." Megatron muttered, and then realized something. "Does it have the ability to turn someone back to their original body?"

"I don't know, and I wouldn't test that theory." Sprawl advised. "We don't know just how much this battery has been used and how close it is to shattering, so I'd recommend putting this somewhere safe and out of devious hands."

"Alright. Shockwave, tally the Reverse Battery for the vaults." Megatron commanded and Shockwave nodded. Now with her attention on to the final artifact, the shield. Megatron picked it up by the hilt on the backside of the piece of armor. The gold and black style of the shield caught her optic, but other than that it seemed like a normal mass-shifting piece of armor. There were plenty of them built during the war. Megatron herself used plenty during her times in the Pit. They were common, cheap, and expendable, a reflection of her old self.

"Anything on this?" Megatron asked her head scientist.

"It appears to have an internal force-field mechanism that produces a staggering amount of power," Shockwave explained to her. "Scans indicate that it pre-dates modern Cybertronian history, putting it around eighty million years ago. The ancient cyberglyphs on the edges hint towards being used by heroes of old, but other than that we might be in possession of a rather extraordinary shield."

"This is _more_ than extraordinary, Shockwave," Sprawl spoke, awe in his voice. "This shield was supposedly lost to the stars many years ago when the ancient Knights left on their crusades across the cosmos, under the blessing of the Guiding Hand of Primus. It is said that it has the power to protect its user from any sort of attack, nullifying and even reversing whatever might hurt them." The Warrior Elite said, as if he was witnessing a portal through time right in front of him. Granted, due to his age, it was probably because that he had seen this shield before.

"And just what is this legendary shield, Sprawl?" Megatron asked.

"Megatron, this... this is the **_Skyboom Shield_**."

...

Bridgette didn't really think of Holly being the one to surprise her anymore. Once she had cemented herself as leader and made sure that the girl doesn't do anything else too stupid in regards of trying to usurp her, Holly pretty much became that loyal, crazy girl that she could rely on. Holly had a rather troublesome past, and she had pretty much exhausted herself on surprising their leader. Over the years Holly had tried to be as open as possible, while still keeping some rather very personal secrets to her past life that the rest of the Stuntikids could understand.

But when Holly dropped the bombshell that there were more Autobot humans, it seemed to shock everyone in the room.

"So the Autobots decided to wise up and enlist more humans?" Bridgette more or less stated in response to Holly. She was probably the least surprised out of them all, taking this information in stride. As the leader, she had to be strong and remain that pillar of reliance to her team. She couldn't afford to be weak in any situation. She was just as surprised as the rest of them, but her poker face was far stronger than anyone here.

"Yeah, I kind of figured that one out back at Nova Scotia." Holly said, remembering her duels with Darby and Hun.

"Really? I'm surprised it took this long," Samantha said, taking a moment to quench her thirst with a swig of soda, "I mean, how long have they known we existed? Three years?"

"This is more serious than you know, Samantha." Bridgette was stern in her voice. She was correct. For years the Stuntikids had the advantage of having an enemy that wouldn't dare to try and kill them, giving them both the Decepticons an early edge in the war on Earth and having immunity from any sort of retaliation from any Autobot due to their code of conduct. With these new players on the field, suddenly the Stuntikids weren't so safe anymore. Giant robots were one thing, but human enemies are another. True, they'd had their fair share of fights with other people, mainly interlopers from outside the war effort, but now it was becoming a new story.

Bridgette and Holly were pretty much the only fighters of the group. Ethan was their medic and Samantha was a scout, neither of which were made to fight. Ethan might have that mechanical arm, but it wasn't built to wage battle. Samantha was pretty darn fast when she wanted to, having near unlimited stamina when it came time to turn back and flee. Zoey was definitely someone who didn't want to fight. She preferred to stay in the warship for as long as possible. If there was to be eventual conflict between the two groups, then there needed to be some necessary changes to the Stuntikids.

"Holly, how do you even know this?" Bridgette asked, and Holly fidgeted in her seat.

"Well... because I went on a date with him," she confessed. Total silence.

"YOU _WHAT?!_ " Samantha screamed at her, and Holly turned to see her tugging her hair in a panic. "You freaking dated an AUTOBOT?!"

"I didn't know he was an Autobot!" Holly defended herself by yelling back. "We went on one date! One! And then I had that stupid fucking mission to Nova Scotia and then I fought him there! Had I known he was an Autobot I would have dumped his ass as soon as I saw him back in Jasper!" It appeared that Holly was more hurt than any of them had realized. Her dating life was a complete mystery to the rest of the Stuntikids, and when Hun had decided to get cozy with her it was pretty much the first time in many years that someone had noticed her.

"How well did he fight?" Bridgette asked.

"Pretty damn good. If anything, he's probably the heavy hitter, like me." Holly reasoned.

"So, who do you think the new Autobot humans belong to? Wreckers?" Ethan said.

Holly scratched her chin to try and remember anything she could get from her time with Hun that could help them get more clues on their new enemies. Hun liked to wear casual clothes, nothing too extraordinary. He could blend in with a crowd if he wanted to. The Autobot human certainly didn't stick out from anybody that Holly noticed. However, one detail stuck out about Hun that she remembered. He had a tattoo.

 _A tattoo of a Triceratops..._

"Dinobots." Holly said suddenly.

"Pardon?" Bridgette asked.

"I think him and his human team are part of the Dinobots. He had a tattoo of a _Triceratops_ on his forearm. If they're anything like Hun, then they'll have tattoos of the other Dinobots as well." Holly said. It made sense that they would have a form of allegiance if they were part of a team. Years ago, the Stuntikids each had tags on their ankles that they decorated with their own respective styles that were eventually removed when the Decepticons began to trust them more. Very rough times.

"Oh, that's _great._ " Ethan sarcastically cheered. "Dinobots. Whoop de doo."

"So, who are the Dinobots on Earth?" Zoey asked.

"There's Grimlock. He's the leader. Then there's Slug, his second. Scorn's his weapons engineer, Slash his scouter and Swoop is his sniper," everyone looked at Samantha. "What? I do my research."

"Then it's settled." Bridgette stood up tall, "I'll talk to Motormaster about this. From now on, we're gonna fight them."

"We fight all the time, though. Not between us, but against the Autobots." Holly said.

"That changes. Everyone here has to know when to either cut and run, or put up your fists and stand your ground." Bridgette commanded. Ethan and Samantha worriedly looked at each other. The two were pretty much pacifists and only fought as a last resort. However, if Holly was correct and the new humans were part of the Dinobots then it seems like their own protective lives were going to get a little more hectic. Zoey was slightly terrified of getting into a fight. She wouldn't be able to do much against anyone that the Dinobots would throw at her. Bridgette noticed the fear on her three soldiers.

"Look, I'm not saying that if you see an Autobot you have to go all aggro on them. Just know that you're gonna be in a more dangerous position now that we've got to deal with more humans on the battlefield." Bridgette explained, trying her hardest not to be too harsh. "You're all dismissed. Ethan, a word."

As the rest of the Stuntikids left, Bridgette waited until they were completely gone before she had a word with her medic. Ethan stood there, awaiting whatever she had in store for him.

"E, if things go south for any reason, I don't care whatever happens, I want you to get back on the warship." Bridgette commanded, putting her hands on his shoulders and leaving the boy rather confused. Hadn't she just said that they were supposed to fight against the other humans?

"Why? This isn't favoritism, is it?"

"No, god no. This is me being smart. You're our medic and the only one on the warship that knows pretty much anything about how to fix the human body. I'm not saying this to sound like an overprotective asshat, but I'm not going to risk the most critical person to our family for the sake of a couple damn trinkets. You keep us alive, E." Bridgette responded, leaving Ethan slightly speechless. He hadn't expected Bridgette to talk to him like this. It was a glimpse into her old self, the one that was trying her damnest to keep the group together from failing. He understood what she meant when she said how important he was; while he wasn't their leader nor the strongest, he was the healthy heart of the family, keeping them all alive both literally and figuratively.

"So you want me to stay here with Zoey?" He asked.

"The only reason Zoey stays on the ship is because she wants to." Bridgette said to him.

"You do realize she still goes to school, right?" Ethan said incredulously.

"Don't remind me. I know you and Sammy like going out and exploring the world, but at least try to stick with your guardians from now on. I know that's not much to ask but these are changing times and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you or the rest of my Stuntikids." Bridgette said back.

Ethan smiled. As if Wildrider would let him go anywhere without her. Same with the other Stunticons. "You two are like the big sisters I never had. Well, more like Wildrider. I'm pretty sure she's developed the stereotypical attitude for being the "big sis" I've been living with for the past three years."

Bridgette giggled before pecking him on the nose. "Alright, shoo. Go have fun. You're dismissed."

"Yes, ma'am!" Ethan saluted and ran off, leaving Bridgette alone to fill out more work. This report was gonna be a nightmare.

* * *

 _-Chicago-_

Joshua Joyce took a step out from his Rolls Royce limousine, taking a breath of fresh air from the city atmosphere. The inventor took some pride in his accomplishments that led to this day, as today would be his first day working alongside the Chicago Police Department with their new, custom-built police units, all paid for by the working man. Darcy Tirrel stood next to him, eyeing the scenery and the large crowds gathered here to see the unveiling of the new police force awaiting the CPD. Behind them all was Stinger, who had transformed into her root mode and stood tall over the crowd and flashing cameras. She made sure to not step on anyone.

"Smile, Darcy. Today's gonna be a great day, our start into KSI's public market." Joyce took in the admiration from the excited crowd. "People all over the country will get to see just what we're capable of."

"Oh, I do." Darcy muttered, taking a note to look back at Stinger, and what was currently being transported to the open lot of the police headquarters; a semi-truck ferrying the first wave of police Trax units. They were hidden underneath layers of tarp so the public eye wouldn't get any sort of spoilers for the grand prize, and so that potential adversaries to KSI wouldn't be able to see the models themselves. Joyce knew that there were people out there that would do anything to try and ruin his business, and years of playing other people who had been foolish enough to think that they were better than him had taught Joyce that patience ultimately wins.

They had laughed at him when he considered buying the dead Decepticons from the US military (seeing as though they didn't need them) and using their alien metals for a product to change America fundamentally. And as it turns out, his patience had awarded him with billions and a grand spot in the public eye.

"Smile, would ya? Wouldn't want that pretty face of yours memorized for frowning too much. Stinger, you mind following the truck? For protection, dear," Joshua said.

"Sure thing, Master Joyce," Stinger said and carefully stepped over the crowd to not flatten anyone.

"Such a nice girl," Joshua said with a smile to Darcy as one of his agents opened the door to the building, and awaiting inside was Chief Delmer and one of her lieutenants. Her arms were crossed over her chest, mouth traced into a straight line. Joyce admired that the Chief could certainly dress to the occasion, a sharp blue suit with her badge above her left breast and her police hat, her rich chocolate hair tied behind in a bun. The lieutenant standing next to her was a young male, carrying a single paper folder in his arms. He was dressed in uniform, probably picked out of the bunch to stand beside the Chief and look good.

"Joyce. I was expecting you six minutes ago," Delmer began, speaking calmly but with a stern edge.

"Yeah well, traffic," Joyce replied, "So, are your boys and girls ready to get their new friends today?"

"Ready as ever," Delmer responded, taking a stride towards the field doors with Joshua behind her, and tagging nearby was the lieutenant and Darcy.

...

The Chicago Police Department's newest batch of officers eagerly awaited the great news outside of the building, two rows of twelve standing one in front of the other, each of them wearing a different face preparing for the reveal of the CPD's police units, given by Joyce himself. Some of them were utterly excited to be working alongside robots to help fight crime, like something out of an action sci-fi movie. Others were nervous, too many horror tropes behind the logic of working with robots, that and the attack on Chicago many months ago by other robots fueled their fear. Anyone else who wasn't jumping in their boots were looking on with anger in their eyes, remembering the ones they lost during the battle of Chicago. KSI was only refueling their nightmares, as if they didn't have enough problems dealing with robots.

It would be insulting to them to have to work alongside the same monsters that tried to wreck their city.

"Dude, are you pumped?" One of them with a trimmed beard and red hair said to another, who was currently sweating in her shoes in fear, "We're gonna get to work with frickin' robots, dude! This is some _Robocop_ type shit right here, I'm fucking hyped!"

"Can it, Arthur," the young adult turned his head to the young black woman standing next to him with a smirk on her face, "you'll spoil the surprise. Besides, you're starting to frighten Maya, god knows the woman needs any more stress in her life."

"I'm not stressed Trish," Maya said quietly, rubbing a hand across her forehead to get the sweat off, "I'm just really, _really anxious._ I mean, we were attacked by robots nearly a month ago and the city is still getting fixed and now all of a sudden KSI builds police robots for us to use? Am I the only one who thinks that they believe we'll get attacked again, and that's why we're getting robot bodyguards?"

"You need to relax, Maya," Arthur said nudging the smaller Asian American woman with his elbow, "You're overthinking this. This isn't _Terminator._ So don't worry your pretty little head. Oh boy, here comes Chief Ball-buster. Hey, is that Joshua Joyce?"

"Wonder what he's doing here." Trish mumbled, and Maya looked further away and realized that the truck that was carrying the unpowered units were being protected by one of the KSI Transformers, a cherry red and jet black robot with a sleek design and a green-orange iridescent visor. Arthur instantly recognized the robot as something he had seen in the news.

"Yo, check it out, that's Stinger!" Arthur softly shouted. Ever since he had seen KSI's crown jewel fight off the giant monster he'd been dying to see her in person. This was like meeting your personal hero in real life. The others were just as ecstatic to see the hero of Chicago standing not even fifty feet away from them. Arthur and others had to crane their necks up a little to get a good view of her face. Stinger was much taller than they had thought. Perhaps she had a growth spurt?

"That's her? Damn, I wonder if our bots look the same," Trish said, eyeing Stinger's impressive body.

"Hopefully, but I don't think it'll matter," Arthur said, putting his hands on his hips, "'cuz once those bad boys start rolling with us, every crook in this city's gonna wet their pants at seeing giant robot cops. Hey, you think we'll each get our own?"

"I'd rather die than work with one of those robots," A new voice said, and both Maya and Trish rolled their eyes because they knew full well who it was. Mark Vernano was another fresh officer, but his attitude and his character were a major turn off from anyone who wished to get near him. Mark's anger was famous across the department. How such a brooding, short-tempered man as he got into the Chicago Police department was up to debate. Arthur didn't really care about how antagonistic Mark was, never really gave it thought. Maya and Trish stayed away from him, putting as much distance between them and his eternal dark cloud. Of course he would have an issue with taking the robots.

"Oh come on, Mark. You wouldn't want your very own transforming cruiser?" Arthur smirked, knowing that it would get under his skin.

"No, because I'm not going to support that slimebag Joyce. I know he's up to something, he's not just going to sell this kind of stuff just to us." Mark growled, turning a dark glare towards the eccentric billionaire, "He'll be lining his pockets with money from gangs and thugs who want a piece of this new tech, and he'll sell it without thinking twice. I know his kind all too well."

"God, get off your high horse, would ya?" Trish said, making sure that Mark heard her.

"Mind saying that to my face, Trish?" Mark snarled, his fists tightening.

Before Trish could give a response, Delmer decided to speak up.

"Good morning cadets!" She thundered, and Joyce rubbed the side of his ear. He couldn't stand loud people.

"Good morning, Chief!" The cadets responded.

"As you all know, KSI's been charitable enough to give us some of their new toys for the police force. And as our newest officers, you're going to be using them. The twenty four of you will use these new bots, the Interceptors." The tarp covering the newly christened Interceptors flew off, revealing that there were cars in the tractor bay. The model, the Carbon Motors E7, struck out to the cadets. They weren't using traditional town cars retrofitted to be police cruisers, they were getting top-of-the-line gear for their incoming days as officers.

"Hot damn, that's awesome," Arthur said, taking in the E7 vehicle. The rest of the cadets were oohing and ahhing at the sight of the concept cars.

"You'll be working in groups of two, each of you assigned towards an Interceptor. KSI builds the best, and we only accept the best." Delmer said, making everyone in the small group look at each other nervously. Just who would be paired with who? "Consider this as the start of your careers as officers."

"Excuse me, Chief?" Someone asked in the back with a hand raised, "Are the Interceptors online?"

Delmer looked at Joyce, who shrugged and turned to Stinger.

"Stinger, you mind?" He asked.

"No problem," Stinger nodded and she knelt down to the first of the Interceptors, her right palm crackling with red energy.

"Stinger has the ability to bring machines to life," Joyce explained, eyeing Delmer's confused stare, "the Interceptors are currently built without any sort of functionality, but Stinger has the ability to make them "alive" in a sense. Give them thoughts and voices. She can even do more than one at once. It's totally awesome."

"Is that a good thing?" Delmer asked. She had heard that Stinger had built up her own personal army out of KSI's first wave of Traxes against the invasion. She was impressed that Stinger was blessed with that sort of power, to make machines alive like her, but she couldn't deal with a platoon of combat-ready mom vans. Delmer knew that she had no sort of power over Stinger. Her loyalty to Joyce was strong. She could only hope that whatever personalities the Pagani decided to put in the Interceptors were tame enough to work with. She couldn't have rogue cop cars shooting everyone.

Joyce rubbed the back of his head, "Eh, it depends. Stinger can pretty much give them any sort of personality; cold-hearted merc, professional assassin, angst-riddled teen, you name it. Oh, good cop," Joyce suddenly had an idea and pointed to the cadets, and then back at the Interceptors, "bad cop? That sounds like it could sell."

Delmer chuckled, "No thanks, Joyce. Human cadets are one thing, giant robots are another."

Stinger put her hand on the hood of the E7, identifying where the heart of the machine lay inside. The energy from her body snaked down from her arm like red rivers of light and poured into the hood of the vehicle, the lights and sirens flickering on and off. The cadets watched as the red lightning slithered its way towards the other Interceptors, their bodies slowly coming to life like something out of _Frankenstein._ With a final clash of thunder, Stinger retracted her hand and took a couple steps back, watching as the closest E7 in front of her started to transform into a cloud of metallic matter, much like her own transforming abilities, and came down in front of the cadets. As the transformium started to settle into a solid form, the true body of the Interceptor started to come alive.

The humanoid body was distinctly built, far bulkier than Stinger but still functioning with curves at the waist with armored arms and legs. The lights of the E7 were placed at the chest, shoulders, and kneecaps, along with the badge of the CPD dead center on the torso, colored a shiny brass. There seemed to be an assortment of police gadgets visible on the robot, such as a baton, a flashlight, and a huge magnum pistol on the thigh. What really got the cadets attention was the head, streamlined black and white with what appeared to be a combination of a gas mask and a mouth-guard where its mouth would be. Four optics looked at the cadets, two red and two blue. The police bot took a step forward before stumbling on its knees. Stinger caught the robot before it could fall further.

"Easy," the robot looked at the source of the voice belonging to Stinger, "you're alive. My name is Stinger, friend. And these," she gestured to the awed cadets in front of her, "are humans, your new allies. Friends, like me."

"Allies," the Interceptor said slowly, as if getting used to the word. Its voice was far more robotic than Stinger's silky talk. Far more masculine too. It stood up strong, a good meter above Stinger.

"Are you armed?" Stinger asked. The Interceptor stretched its hand around for a moment before sticking it out in the air and forming a gigantic shotgun in its hand with a cloud of transformium, a scaled up model of a Mossberg 500 the size of a tree. Delmer gawked at the sheer size of the shotgun. Joyce felt a cold sweat coming on.

"Uh, is that supposed to happen?" Darcy whispered.

"Interceptor Unit I-1," the Interceptor said, holstering the shotgun, "reporting for duty." Everyone stood in shock that the Interceptor had just announced itself and gave a name as well.

Delmer realized that it was awaiting orders, and that Stinger purposefully let herself stay silent so that the police chief could assert herself on the new robot, I-1. She thought it fit well, having unit names instead of actual names. It would keep the process of keeping tabs on their new friends simple. Delmer took off her hat to get a better look at I-1. I-1 seemed to recognized Chief Delmer and instantly saluted her.

"They know me?" She asked Stinger.

"Of course, why wouldn't they? You're the chief after all." Stinger said, "I took the liberty of uploading the police department's mainframe database into the Interceptor CPU's. They'll be able to identify the officers of rank and the cadets too, plus they'll know the surrounding Chicago area."

"Mind telling me how you did that?"

"A magician never reveals her secrets, Delmer." Stinger said, and the police chief knew that she was smirking behind that ornate mouth plate. She decided to let Stinger be a cheeky girl just this once.

"Salutations, ma'am." I-1 said, kneeling before the Chief to get a better look. "A pleasure to be working with you."

"Flattering," Delmer smiled, "How about the others start waking up?" She yelled at the rest of the E7's, seeing as though I-1 was loyal enough to her, the rest should be no problem. The rest of the E7 vehicles transformed into their bipedal forms, all twelve of them, standing tall in front of the amazed and slightly terrified cadets. This was far too overwhelming for some of them, like Maya, but others were practically jumping in their boots, Arthur among them. Standing far away from it all was Joyce, smirking as he saw the overwhelming success of introducing the Interceptors for the CPD. If Chicago could take in these bots, what about other cities, like New York, Philadelphia, and Daytona? All over the world, KSI would reinvent all forms of technology, all starting from a small police force.

"Wake up, Earth. A new era begins." Joshua muttered, thinking about the future.

 _How right he was..._

* * *

 **Whuddup mofo's, the Tormentor's back! A new chapter is here for Stuntikids 2 and another announcement; I'll be starting to write a new chapter every two weeks for this story. I'll be holding off the other story (Rage of the Red Cross) for this one, because let's face it I've been neglecting this for too long. I want to make sure that you all get to enjoy a paced story with great features.**

 **Also, I saw Transformers: The Last Knight. It's seriously the best movie since the first one, I'm not kidding. Not only do we get a story that is really enjoyable, we also get Autobots AND Decepticons with personality, plus there's shoutouts to all the other Transformer series, such as _Prime_ and _G1._ I can't stress it enough, go freaking see it! I won't spoil anything, thank you.**

 **See you soon!**


	6. Lost

_Three Days Later..._

Maya never considered herself to be the bravest out of any sort of group. If she didn't know what something was, like a present or a dark room, her instincts told her to be very afraid. She had lived like this her whole life. Her idea to become a cop wasn't out of a feeling of virtuous justice, rather she was here to face her fears. Make herself less frightful of the unknown. Maya's life as a cadet was filled with pranks and jokes, all aiming to get her to have yet another freak out. While nobody meant to actually harm her, Maya had pretty much earned a reputation for being a scaredy-cat. If that wasn't enough, her small body was far from the strongest or the fastest, so trying to muscle her way out of a situation or flee was out of the question.

Thankfully, she was sitting in the drivers seat of the Interceptor units named I-5 along with Arthur, watching the traffic slowly crawl in the city streets, a symphony of car horns and beeps filling the air. Another slow day in the Windy City. Maya looked over to her ginger friend, who was busy munching on a strawberry glazed doughnut while watching YouTube on the response laptop. Arthur admittedly did pull pranks on Maya back at the academy, but he was also a good man with a heart of gold. He and Maya were pretty close, but not in any sort of romantic interest. His affable nature made him extremely popular among the cadets and he was always willing to do anything for a friend, even Maya. She was happy that she was partnered up with him today.

"Slow day today, Fiver?" Arthur said to the radio, which he knew I-5 was listening in to. The Interceptors were quickly becoming popular with the police force, and the older officers were a little jealous that the new recruits got to have the best toys. Interceptor units were becoming familiarized in the force, even so much as establishing nicknames instead of their unit names. "Fiver" was such a nickname, mainly referring to their unit number. It was becoming common to call the units names such as Fiver, Ones or Nines. It helped forge a bond between the officers and their Interceptors.

"Is this what traffic in the city is like? God, who would want this life?" Fiver said, taking in the traffic and the frustrated drivers behind the wheels.

"People gotta do what they gotta do to get to work," Arthur said, taking another bite of his doughnut. "Say Fives, how do you like Chicago so far?"

Their shared Interceptor, Unit I-5 or simply Fives was in the same boat as Maya and Arthur. Though he was only several days old, Fiver had already gotten the impression that Chicago was not the best place on planet Earth to live in. He watched the cars and trucks and other vehicles slowly crawl on the tarmac in front of him, not envying their passengers in the slightest. Road work was a bitch to get by in any city, and Chicago was no different.

"Kinda sucks," Fiver admitted, "then again, it's my home, so I kind of have to like it." Fiver or "Fives" as others called him was known in his short time in the force to be a little bit of a sarcastic ass. He and Arthur instantly got along, the two of them forming a quick and mighty friendship. Maya not so much. She thought he was too much to handle for an Interceptor. Fiver liked the both of his human partners, and never really thought of Maya as anything bad in his optics. Though, he guessed that Maya would rather had been partnered up with Nines, one of the two female Interceptors along with Ten.

"I know how you feel, dude." Arthur said, taking in another bite from his doughnut. Just as he finished it, the radio came to life.

 _ **"All responding police units, we have an armed robbery currently in progress in Lincoln Square. Repeat, robbery in Lincoln Park. Suspects are armed and dangerous. All units respond."**_

Maya and Arthur looked at each other, and Arthur quickly grabbed the speaker mic while Maya put the pedal to the metal. She slammed on the accelerator and Fivers let her go, blaring sirens and lights as they tore through the streets easing through the parting traffic.

"Officer Curry responding! Officer Ibuki and Unit I-5 are in route! We'll be there in exactly half a minute!"

 ** _"Copy that Officer, what is your location?"_** The voice from the radio asked.

"Ravenswood Ave!" Arthur yelled as Maya darted between two trucks. "Christ alive Maya, do you want to live up to your stereotype?"

"Now is _so_ _not_ the time to be racist, Arthur!" Maya yelled back, her face turning tomato-red with embarrassment. Arthur simply held his hands up in defeat. "Fives, is this as fast as you can go?"

"Not at all. You mind letting go of the wheel?" Fiver said, and Maya reluctantly let go, and watch in fascination as the steering wheel slid inside the dashboard. Seeing that the humans inside were safe Fiver kicked his engine into overdrive, the cars and sights becoming a blur. He heard both Maya and Arthur suck in breath as the Interceptor easily reached triple digits.

"Too fast! TOO FAST!" Maya screamed, the city and her life flashing before her eyes.

"OH MY GOD!" Arthur screamed. "WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

...

"I said open the damn _safe_ fucker!" One of the robbers roared into the face of a desk clerk, who was busy trying to both open the safe and calm his nerves. As soon as he finished the code to the safe the robber cracked the end of his gun at the back of the man's head, dropping him like a bag of bricks. The safe inside was loaded with hard fresh cash, stacks upon stacks like the city skyline above. Thanking his luck, he quickly began loading every green stack that he could fit into his duffel bag. Armfuls of cash quickly scooped up anything that he could fit into his stuffed bag, and once he realized that he had no space left he fled in the bank lobby. As he walked out, he grabbed a nearby stack and put it in his jacket. Easy pocket change.

In the bank, the hostage situation was playing right out of a movie. There were three other robbers, each one holding a gun and pointing it at the clerks and suits who were kneeling in front of the front desk, facing downwards and their hands behind their heads. Nobody had been killed, but the staff feared of being shot by any of the triggerhappy thugs in front of them, so they kept quiet. The sound of heavy boots from the safe caused them to turn right and see their leader with a bag full of cash.

"I got it, let's bail!" The heist leader said, and the rest of his lackeys quickly followed as they fled the bank to their getaway car. Outside lay a dark green four-door sports car, their driver sitting inside awaiting for them to get back. Their leader hauled the money into the trunk of the car and ran towards shotgun, taking a moment to rip his mask off and thanking that they had the right idea to shoot the bank's cameras before they began heisting.

"How much you got?" The driver asked, pushing her long bangs out of her eyes. He reached into his jacket and whipped out the single stack of hundreds that he had taken for fun, and her eyes grew wide at the sight of so much money. She flipped the bills in her hand.

"Over a hundred thousand, _easy._ " The leader replied, and the driver smirked as she put the money away and peeled out, driving over the grass and into the streets of Chicago. Their destination lay in the docks, a boat to take them over the lake and into Canada.

"Damn, you really hit the jackpot there." A sudden rush of adrenaline shot through the driver's body at the thought of her and her boyfriend running from the law with so much money in the back. If she wasn't driving, she probably would have kissed him.

"Heh, bank didn't know what hit 'em." The lead robber smirked as he wiped his face from the sweat, letting his brown bangs fall on his face.

"Hate to interrupt you two lovebirds, but we've got company!" One of the henchman yelled and pointed backwards, revealing a cop car gaining on them, sirens and lights blaring. And by the looks of things, they were catching up fast. The car itself seemed to be a brand new, straight out of a concept car magazine.

"Fives, that was way too fast!" Maya said, taking a haggard moment to regain her senses. She didn't want to know how many speeding laws they broke. Arthur was too busy trying to make sure his breakfast stayed in his stomach.

"Yeah yeah, my bad. Hey, you two might want to watch in front of us, 'cuz I think we just caught our crooks." Both Arthur and Maya realized that Fiver was correct, the green sports car in front of them holding five different people all wearing an assortment of black apparel. The two officers looked even closer and saw that in the lap of the front passenger were guns, giving them all they needed to know that their targets were right in front of them.

"Oh shit, they're right there!" Maya said, pointing at the green sports car. "What kind of car is that?"

"A Subaru Impreza, seems to be a 2004 model based on the body." Arthur said, his car knowledge kicking in.

Meanwhile the robbers were having a bit of a hard time digesting the fact that the cops had already caught up to them. Their getaway car was outfitted with a V8 engine, something that would have easily smoked any sort of cruiser, but this thing was on their bumper like it was a total cakewalk. Seeing as though they couldn't outrun them, maybe they could _outgun_ them.

"Step on it, baby!" The leader spoke, and she slammed on the accelerator while he and the other henchmen fired back at the cop car, not bothering to care about the civilians in the way. Bullets bounced and sparked off the hood, bumper and even the wheels of the Interceptor, but that didn't stop them from firing. Their leader put himself on the window, sitting on the door while firing his SMG right at the bulletproof glass. Screw these pigs, this was his score! This should have been an easy gain! He grit his teeth at the sight of the cop car getting little to no damage from their constant fire.

"They're shooting at us!" Arthur said, putting his head down while getting his pistol out. "Add assault to the list!" He'd never thought that his first couple days on the job would allow a street chase shoot-out. Maya wasn't faring much better, trying desperately to reach for the radio. She finally caught it.

 ** _"Shots fired at Lincoln Square! Repeat, shots fired!"_**

"This is Officer Ibuki! We need backup! We're under heavy fire and possible civilian casualties! Suspects have fled the scene in a dark green Subaru Impreza!" Maya screamed in the radio as I-5 weaved through the crazed and terrified traffic, trying desperately to get ahead of the robbers and stop them. Arthur was looking up, trying to get a good view through the slightly chipped window screen. He didn't want to lose his head because he got curious.

 ** _"Roger that Officer, Units I-9 and I-4 are responding."_**

 _Thank god!_ Maya cheered, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Tell them to hurry the hell up! I don't want to die today!" Arthur yelled, making sure they could hear his sailor mouth.

"Dammit, what the hell is that fucking thing?!" One of the crooks growled out, popping out his empty mag to replace it. They'd been shooting that thing and it hadn't even got a dent in it from all their bullets.

"Fucking cops!" Another one yelled, putting himself out the window to spray his pistol at the cop car, screaming like a lunatic.

"Dammit babe, what's going on!" Their driver yelled, panic beginning to seep into her nerves, and she wasn't the only one. Their leader watched as the cop car roared across the road, closing the distance between them so easily that it seemed to be almost unfair. "How are they doing that?!"

"I don't know." He responded, and took a moment to kick the dash in front of him. "FUCK!" This was turning into an utter nightmare.

What they hadn't expected was the Interceptor to suddenly lunge and crush the rear of the Impreza like a tin can. All of them were thrown off from the powerful impact, and they looked back in fear at seeing their trunk crumpled, where their leader had stored the money. Thankfully for them, their bag full of cash was untouched but the back of the car looked like crap. The spoiler was gone, and the bumper was grinding on the street below, sending a shower of sparks. Their fears heightened because when they looked back, the cop car was still intact, but with pieces of their own car decorating the front grill.

"Fives, give me the wheel!" Maya said, with a sense of bravery unheard of from her lips. The steering wheel slowly returned to the dash and back into Maya's hands.

"What're you gonna do? _Smash them off the road?_ " Arthur asked, and realized that it was exactly her plan. "Sweet mother of god."

"Arthur, when I ram them, you shoot their tires!" Maya said, riding on the euphoric feeling of bravery.

"I-I don't think that's such a good idea!" Arthur protested.

"Just _do it, Arthur!_ "

Arthur looked back at his friend with a nervous nod and held tight to his firearm, cocking his pistol and rolled down the window to line up a shot. Since when has Maya been such a brave hero? Maya slammed her foot on the accelerator, practically putting it into the floorboard. The robbers could only watch as the E7 caught up to the left of the vehicle, but their leader was far from defeated. He hadn't come this far just to get arrested by some hero-playing pigs!

"Ram them, babe!" He shouted and she turned her wheel to smash into the side of the cop car.

Maya and I-5 responded by ramming them back, and this time with a little extra as Arthur aimed his pistol and fired at both right wheels, causing their tires to peel off. The robbers barely had time to react as Maya and I-5 spun them into a road work area, the car skidding across the road. It hit a bump in the street, sending it into the air before crashing straight into a cement mixer.

Tracks from both the body of the car and the wheels had dug into the cracked earth below. As for the car, the front had completely collapsed in on itself, the engine in pieces. Smoke hissed from the ruins of the vehicles engine, glass from both windows and headlights strewn across the ground along with more crumpled metal as if they were innards ripped open from a fresh carcass.

If anyone had noticed, a duffel bag stuffed to the brim with stolen money slowly popped out of the wrecked trunk.

The Interceptor slowly pulled in to the scene of the accident. They kept their distance.

"Holy shit Maya, that was awesome!" Arthur whooped, both he and Maya stepping out of the car. He reached into his personal radio, "Dispatch, this is Officer Curry. Suspects are down. Send request for paramedics, possible casualties."

 ** _"Roger that Officer, paramedics inbound."_**

Fiver transformed, standing tall and imposing above the growing crowd of onlookers who suddenly stood back at the sight of the Interceptor's true form. He whipped out his enormous magnum and cocked a slug into the barrel, looking down at the wreckage in case any of the robbers were still alive and had any funny ides. The door to the passenger suddenly kicked open to reveal an angry young man holding an SMG, his leather jacket torn and ripped from the impact. He was bleeding from dozens of lacerations on his body, but apparently he didn't notice or care as he aimed to take down the two rookie cops.

"FREEZE!" Maya screamed as both she and Arthur aimed their guns at him.

"Drop the weapon, dirtbag!" Arthur said. The robber knew that he was out in the open and wounded and with two cops pointing their guns at him the sweet idea of escaping seemed very far off. His comrades and his girlfriend were either unconscious or dead, he didn't know. He raised his SMG to cut the two cops down and try to make a run for it, and he would have done that if he hadn't noticed the twenty foot tall robot standing behind the two cops, pointing a magnum pistol the size of a truck tire straight at him. The familiar white and black struck out, and it finally dawned on him that the robot standing in front of him was the cop car that had been chasing him across Chicago.

"Give it up, criminal scum," the robot said, "you've _lost_."

The robber slowly knelt down to his knees. For good measure he tossed aside his SMG. Maya put her pistol away and made a move, putting the crook on the ground with a mighty shove. The cuffs were on his wrists soon after. While he was totally caught, he was still pretty damn mad.

"Fuck you, pig!" He snarled out, gritting his teeth on the pavement. "I've got rights!"

"Yeah yeah, save that for the judge, douchelord." Arthur sneered, allowing his smirking face to be seen by the robber just to piss him off. Fiver walked over to the wreckage of the crook's vehicle scanning for signs of life. Arthur joined in and peered inside, shining a flashlight inside the car.

"Are they dead, Fives?" He asked.

"No, but they're badly wounded. Good call about calling an ambulance." Fiver replied, and turned around at the sounds of more sirens. The officers and the Interceptor saw that it was their reinforcements I-9 and I-4 along with an ambulance trailing behind them. The crowd forming around the scene of the accident had to disperse to let the three vehicles in. The officers inside I-9 and I-4 stepped out, and the two Interceptors transformed. While I-4 guarded the scene and kept the growing audience at bay I-9 walked over along with her two partners.

"Nice work, Arthur." One of them said, and Arthur saw that it was Mark who was talking to him. And he didn't sound like an arrogant twit! He also saw that Trish was with him, partnered with both him and Unit 9.

"Thanks, Mark." He said, and Mark brushed it off to glare down at the crooks.

"You guys took your time," Fiver said, putting his magnum on his thigh while looking at Nines, "stuck in traffic again?"

"Sorry we couldn't get here sooner," Nines replied, crossing her arms in annoyance. "Nice job on stopping the crooks there, Fiver."

"It wasn't just me," Fiver mumbled, taking a look at Arthur and Maya, which didn't go unnoticed by Nines.

"Alright, time to load up these crooks and call it a day." Fours said, letting the paramedics load the injured and totally blacked out crooks onto several stretchers. The leader, who was still cuffed, angry and slightly bruised was pushed to his feet and loaded into the back of the transformed Fours. The ambulance whisked away with the rest of the robbers while Nines and Fiver followed them back to station after a hard day's work.

* * *

 _-the Nemesis, Earth orbit-_

"Soundwave, any progress with the deciphering of any other relics?" Megatron asked as she entered the communication hub, pretty much Soundwave's room considering how much time he was spending in there. It was kept to Soundwave's liking as there was little light offered outside of the glow of the monitors in front of him, decently sized enough for him to have control over all inputs and kept totally silent except for the atmosphere outside the ship. Frenzy and Rumble were hanging around, playing on a pair of human gaming devices. Ravage was watching Soundwave work, his tail sliding across the ground from side to side.

"He's been at it all day, Megatron." Frenzy said, not taking his optics off of his device. "All day and all night, staying up trying to get through those stupid codes and whatnot. Dammit Rumble, you fragging _suck_! Of course you would use amnesia with that Registeel you've got!" Frenzy shook his DS in frustration as his Magmar was slapped silly by Rumble's Registeel.

"You mad, Frenzy?" Rumble snickered.

"Ignore them," Megatron turned to hear Ravage talk, "they've been playing that damn game all week ever since they went on that celebratory trip with the human partners of Wildrider and Drag Strip." Megatron pursed her lips to form a frown. She hated the infectious nature of Earth culture and its material basics.

"And what they say is true?" She said.

"Yes, Soundwave's been working nonstop." The feline took a moment to look back to his master, "But I do believe-"

 _BWIP!_

"-that he's found something." Ravage finished, and everyone saw that Soundwave had decoded yet another set of Iacon relics to be secured. Two more relics of unknown power, both of them located across the globe ripe for the plucking. Megatron smiled deviously. The Decepticons were on a victory streak with the relic race. These next two were guaranteed to go to their vaults. Yet Megatron was not one to throw caution to the wind. She knew that Optimus would be on par with Soundwave when it came to decoding Iacon relics, and the Autobots would be after them as well.

"Soundwave, have everyone gather in the command bridge. We've found more."

...

"Only two relics?" Bridgette asked her guardian, who had informed her while everyone filed into the command center. The announcement of two more relics sent the entire warship into a frenzy. Everyone was expecting to be picked for the next mission. With the string of victories that the Decepticons were having, troop morale was very high. Bridgette was walking alongside Motormaster on their way towards the command bridge.

"Can't rush Soundwave, Bridgette. You and I both know he's the slow and steady type." Motormaster replied.

"Well I hope I'm picked this time!" Bridgette said, pounding her fists together. "It's been a while since I was sent out in the field, kick some Autobot ass!" While Holly, Samantha and Ethan had gone down to the surface and retrieved their own relics, Bridgette had been stuck here filing out reports and doing other office work. She was bored out of her mind while her troops were on Earth having exciting adventures. It was about time that she got in the action as well.

"Your charge is quite hyped up today, Motormaster." Both of them turned to see Roadraider enter through another hallway.

Though the other truck-former of the Decepticons never really talked to her much, Bridgette enjoyed the company of Roadraider. His history with Motormaster set him apart from the rest of the Decepticons here. The two had a healthy rivalry of swordsmanship, Motormaster being more of a berserker with his thundersword while Roadraider was a samurai with his dual-blade katana and calm, collected nature in battle.

"You're damn right I'm hyped! I've been stuck in this warship for weeks now." Bridgette responded as they entered the command bridge which was packed with Decepticons awaiting the arrival of Megatron and Soundwave. She spied the rest of the Stuntikids standing near their respective guardians.

"Hey, Bridge!" Samantha waved her hand to get her leader's attention. Bridgette walked over with Motormaster behind her. While he stood beside his Stunticon brethren, Bridgette conversed in some small talk with Samantha.

"Any word on the relics?" Bridgette asked her scouter.

"Besides that there's only two of them? Not much."

"Hmm." Bridgette saw Megatron and Soundwave walk in. The room went quiet and some even saluted her as she made her way to the front of the _Nemesis_ command center. The huge viewscreen at the front of the room suddenly went dark shutting off the sunlight from coming in as the holographic Earth appeared in bright blue.

"As most of you are aware of, two more relics have been located on Earth at various positions," Megatron said, pointing towards the Earth. "The first of the relics is located at this location." The massive screen flew towards a zoomed-in map of the city of Brisbane, located in Queensland, Australia. "The first team will be lead by Shockwave, with him shall be Wildrider, Crowbar and a Stuntikid of their choice. The three of you shall escort Shockwave to the relic's location while he uncovers it." The warlord noticed that the Stunticon had cringed at the announcement of being teamed up with her ex. Motormaster put a hand on her shoulder in consolation. Drag Strip and Breakdown were snickering at the thought of her teaming up with the Dread again. Dead End, still as a statue, did nothing.

While Wildrider was on the verge of a tantrum, Crowbar said nothing, but the glimmer in his optics told a different story. He was certainly going to enjoy being at Wildrider's side as long as he could and with Shockwave coming with them he knew that the one-eyed scientist would keep them in line and force them to play together.

"Is that going to be a problem, Wildrider?" Megatron asked with a tense tone. She wasn't blind to the female Stunticon's sudden attitude.

"Not at all, my Lady." Wildrider said through gritted denta. The fact that she was now put on a mission with him of all mechs just made her want to shoot something.

"Good. The last relic has been found in this location," The map shifted, the indicator pointing straight in the heart of Nebraska, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. That was a good thing, the less people to worry about the better. "Motormaster, you shall command this mission. Your charge and Roadraider will accompany you to the relic. Thankfully the human population in this area is little to nothing. Find it and bring it back."

"We will not fail you, my Lady." Motormaster nodded to Megatron.

"You are dismissed Decepticons. Find me those relics."

...

Wildrider knew that this mission was going to be _utter hell_.

Of course she would be paired with Crowbar. It was almost comical. She tried her damn hardest to get away from him for so damn long and now here she was, waiting at the space bridge for the rest of her new squad. At least she wouldn't have to deal with leading the team. That was on Shockwave's shoulders. At least Ethan was coming with them. He was happy to come with his guardian, even if he was on break he wouldn't pass up any time together with her for anything.

"You seem happy," she looked down and saw Ethan looking at her frowning face as she leaned against a wall. The Stunticon knelt down, picked him up and plopped him on her chest. He took a moment to sit down right in front of her face, his blue eyes staring into her purple optics. "Wanna talk about it?" He asked.

"No." She turned her head the other way, still scowling.

Ethan reached up to grab her chin and made her look back at him. A stern look filled his face.

"Look Wildrider, I get it. You and him don't have the best of histories, but it's nothing you can't handle. We're just gonna go down there, cover for Shockwave as he gets the relic and then be back in, what? A couple hours? How bad can that be?" He said to her, a smile slowly forming on his face. She couldn't help but return the smile. It was just so damn hard to stay mad around Ethan, he was such a beacon of pure positivism.

She could deal with Crowbar with Ethan at her side. What's the worst that could happen?

"Ready to get back together again, 'Rider?"

Oh. Right.

Wildrider instantly rounded on Crowbar, seeing that he had just arrived and already beginning to banter. She set Ethan back down on the ground gently. The glare that she sent to the Dread was stone-cold, but he didn't seem to care.

"Oh c'mon 'Rider, it'll be just like old times!" He said, making a move to grab her shoulder. Instead, he found his hand being crushed in her spike-knuckled grip. The Dread barely let out a cry before Wildrider was on him, pinning him to the wall behind her with a shove. Ethan took a step back in shock. He'd never seen Wildrider act so vicious at anyone, not even Autobots. She might be a few screws loose, but he'd rarely seen her truly angry.

"Do **NOT** touch me. And **don't** call me 'Rider." She spat, and let go of Crowbar's hand.

"Is your past relationship going to be trouble on this mission?" Shockwave made himself known as he strolled in having seen and heard the commotion. He was carrying an excavator kit in his hand. His one optic went back and forth between Wildrider and Crowbar, both of them glaring at each other. Ethan felt like he could cut the tension in the air with his bare hands. "If so, I can acquire more suitable and less emotional soldiers."

"We're _fine._ " Wildrider said, "As long as he keeps his distance." And then she walked off. Shockwave followed her shortly after, leaving Ethan and Crowbar.

"Dude, what did you _do_ to her?" Crowbar looked down at the astounded Ethan, still stunned after seeing Wildrider pin him to a wall.

"Word of the wise, kid? Don't get on her bad side. She can hold a grudge."

...

"What is the significance of your group, Bridgette Ramsey?" Roadraider asked, walking towards the space bridge alongside Motormaster. He had so many questions about the Stuntikids, where they were from, why there were Decepticons, how did they get to become who they were. It was endless, but Bridgette found it rather fun to answer his questions. She'd remembered when Turmoil and his group arrived they were quite curious, and still are, about the Stuntikids.

"We were once a form of punishment. Make a bunch of unruly Decepticons learn responsibility by taking care of a human. Totally out of their league." Bridgette explained, earning a humorous huff from Motormaster. "As time went on, Megatron started to realize that we had potential, and so we made our own group. We'd go on missions, get data and energon and relics. And so, here I am. Stuntikid commander."

"Quite an adventure. I'd love to hear the whole story once we have the relic." Roadraider responded.

"You better pray you've got time. It's a _loooong_ story."


	7. Love

- _Australia_ -

In the cover of night time in the Land Down Under, a single ground-bridge opened up, and out of it came four Decepticons. Shockwave arrived first into the forests outside of Brisbane, carrying the necessary equipment in case of excavation. Behind him strolled Crowbar and Wildrider, and at their ankles walked Ethan, eyeing the scenery around him. Crowbar was holding the locator in his hands, occasionally looking around to check the area around them for the relic. Wildrider walked close by, and made sure to reach down and pluck Ethan off the ground as soon as he left the ship.

The boy didn't even question his guardian's logic. She needed to have him around for her own sanity. Doing anything with an ex-romantic partner would drive anybody crazy, even if they were already crazy. His new position on her shoulder gave him a good view of the city nearby as the four of them walked into the forest, lead by Shockwave. Their trek took them deep into the heart of the Australian wilderness, but not far enough to escape the lights and sounds of the metropolis behind them.

"Got it, Shockwave." Crowbar said, taking a moment to stop and align himself straight with the relic's location. "That way, in the construction zone." Crowbar pointed towards an unfinished neighborhood, littered with scaffolding, bulldozers and glimmering yellow streetlights. The three Cybertronians and the human made their way towards the location as Crowbar's indication marker made more noise as they neared the relic.

"This place ain't creepy what so ever." Ethan muttered, images of all the horror movies he'd watched replaying in his mind. This place was so quiet, the only source of sound being the footsteps of Shockwave, Crowbar and Wildrider and the weak breeze in the air.

"Looks like there was a party around here." Crowbar said while kicking a stacked tower of trash, eyeing the litter that seemed to decorate the construction zone. Beer bottles and cans and what looked to be the remains of a fire pit right in the middle of the road. Shockwave took a moment to stop and put the metal case down on the ground before returning his attention to the other three Decepticons.

"The relic buried here. Let us retrieve it." Shockwave opened up the case to reveal a large machine with a bulky body and a large pair of drills connected to two braces on the underside. Crowbar, Ethan and Wildrider watched as Shockwave hefted the device with his hand and slammed it down onto the asphalt, the drills effortlessly piercing straight through. A soft whir emitted from the device chimed up and the two drills went to work. "The excavation unit will help unearth the relic within the confines of this location. However, I will need sufficient support as I monitor the drill. Wildrider, you shall stay here while Crowbar and the boy patrol the area."

" _WHAT?!_ " Wildrider shrieked, not believing what she was hearing. "No. No way, Ethan stays with me and that's final!" She was not going to have Crowbar anywhere near her boy in the mission let alone take him for a scouting run. She didn't trust the Dread as far as she could throw him. As far as she knew he might make Ethan go "missing" or he "lost him" to something just to be spiteful.

"Dreads are equipped with stealth technology that I designed, useful for staying underneath Autobot scans. The boy shall assist him in acting as a secondary scout and to avert the potential of human authorities. He will not be harmed as long as he stays with Crowbar." Shockwave explained to the flustered Stunticon, but to no avail. Wildrider wasn't buying into any of it.

"Look 'Rider, I'll be fine, okay?" Ethan said, catching her off guard. Since when had he trusted the Dread so readily? "I'll keep an eye out on Crowbar and make sure that he doesn't do anything really dangerous. I'll be back in one piece." Ethan smiled at her frowning face, and she decided to relent. Reluctantly, she reached up and gently put her charge on the ground.

"I'll protect your kid, no problem 'Rider." Crowbar said, using her nickname just to get on her nerves. "We'll tour around the neighborhood, make sure the coast is clear and then we'll be back so that you and him can snuggle and hug and do other thing later together. Sounds good?"

Wildrider grit her denta like two steel plates while imagining taking a fist to that stupid smile on Crowbar's face, her hands tightening hard enough for her fingers to dent her metal palms. Crowbar turned his head to give a smile to the boy, an unsettling sight in Wildrider's purple optics. Seeing that the situation had diffused, Shockwave turned to the drilling machine and began to start scanning the area for the relic. However, as soon as he turned his back, Wildrider reached over and grabbed Crowbar by the neck and brought the Dread down to her optic level. Before he could make any sound, Wildrider put a finger on his mouth to shut him up.

"Listen to me Crowbar, you listen real fraggin' well. That boy is mine, my charge. I want him back safe and sound, and if he comes back with so much as _one_ tiny, itty-bitty bruise on _any_ part of his body, flesh or metal, I'll rip your spike off and make you **EAT IT**." She seethed, whispering painful promises into his audio receptors. Ethan watched the whole thing, a chill running down his spine. "Understand?"

The Dread nodded feverishly, and the Stunticon let him go.

"Good!" She said with a frighteningly happy smile, seeing as the two understood each other for now. "Now have fun, you two!"

Crowbar transformed into his Chevy Suburban alt-mode and quickly opened the door so Ethan could get in. And as soon as the boy hopped in Crowbar shut the door and speed off as fast as he could from the Stunticon, who was waving goodbye. Satisfied that the Dread got her message and that he knew **not** to do anything stupid she walked over back to Shockwave, and saw that his single optic was staring at her.

"What?"

...

"Your guardian never ceases to terrify me." Crowbar said through the radio as he drove into the unfinished neighborhood, putting some distance between them and the two back at the drill site. The world blurred around Ethan as Crowbar easily reached over a hundred miles an hour, only slowing down after gaining at least half a mile between them and Wildrider.

"Y-Yeah, she's really scary when she's mad." Ethan shivered. He thought Bridgette was cold when she was pissed, but Wildrider took the whole "hell hath no fury" to an entirely new level of fear.

"Believe me kid, that much I know." The Dread said, pulling up into a parking lot that oversaw most of the neighborhood. There was more indication that there was a massive party from all the beer cans and broken glass in the area. There was a derelict, broken down car in the middle of the lot, without any tires or windows and covered in spray paint. Without any sort of streetlight in the area, the only source of light was the bright full moon above. Ethan stepped out of the Dread and the Decepticon transformed to eye the scenery.

Seeing that there wasn't a soul to be found either human or Autobot, Crowbar took a seat on the ruined vehicle with a _thud._ Just in case of an emergency, Crowbar whipped out his handheld burst gun. Ethan walked around, kicking a few beer cans here and there and minding the silence. He'd much prefer the quiet tranquility than having Autobots coming down and him getting caught in the middle of a battle.

"Hey kid, I gotta ask you something." Ethan turned around and saw that Crowbar was staring at his metal arm.

"How'd you get that?" He pointed at his appendage with his gun.

"Oh, my arm. I got it a couple years ago, back when we were just punishments for the Stunticons." Ethan explained. "Me and Wildrider were scouting for energon in Texas and we made a stop at a gas station somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Turns out we had some Autobots following us. I don't remember much about what happened or who caused it, but I do remember taking cover next to a pickup truck, and the next thing I know the whole gas station explodes with me right next to it." Ethan looked down at his artificial limb, feeling the wires and circuits connected to his brain. That day would be embedded in his head for as long as he lived.

"Damn." Crowbar muttered. He leaned down closer to the boy, intrigued by the tale.

"I remember flying though the air, like a cartwheel. The whole world spinning around and around. And then pain. Like someone had decided to pour molten lead both in and on my arm." The boy winced, the feeling of losing his limb to the fiery explosion of an ignited gas tank too traumatic to push back. "Flatline amputated what was left, which lead to my current replacement. Getting it wired to my head was almost as bad as losing the limb in the first place. For a while I hated it, because it made me feel less human, but over time I changed it up to help fill my own deeds. I think after that the Stunticons started to take their roles as guardians a little more seriously, so their charges don't have to lose their limbs like I did."

"It's a harsh world out there kid. You set the example. Not an easy thing to live through." Crowbar said, impressed by the boy's hardship. He'd never guessed that the boy lost his arm in such a horrific accident. When Crowbar had heard that Shockwave was on the _Nemesis,_ he'd guessed that the arm on the boy was of his design for some sort of experiment. But he was so wrong. Hearing that Ethan had instead gotten his arm cut off and surgically replaced by Flatline was far more gruesome.

"Yeah, I guess you could say it like that. But enough about me," Ethan turned to Crowbar, asking a question that was plaguing his mind for some time, "What's the beef between you and Wildrider? I know you two were a couple at one point back before the whole civil war happened because she told me all about you when you came aboard the _Nemesis_."

"Really?" Crowbar asked, and Ethan nodded. He raised an optic ridge. "What did she say?"

"She told me how much of an asshole you were to her." Ethan said, crossing his arms while frowning at the Dread. He'd heard all the stories surrounding Crowbar thanks to Wildrider. There had been plenty of stories, all forming around the same principal; Crowbar was a dirty bastard who she used to trust and he took it and kicked it down like a defenseless child.

Crowbar rolled all four of his optics. "Figures."

"Look, I know there's always two sides to a story like this, so I want to hear it from you. Just what did you do to make Wildrider hate you so much?" Ethan asked, really wondering just how potentially tragic the relationship between Crowbar and Wildrider truly was. While Ethan stayed far away from any sort of drama, anything that dealt with his guardian he had to know. Wildrider wasn't a fan of talking about her personal life that much, even to her fellow Stunticons. It takes time for some people to really open up to others, be they human or alien.

"Remember when I told you that she can hold a grudge? Well, back before the war started, she and I were part of the underground arenas, the gladiator stuff that Megatron and most of the other big Decepticons came from." Crowbar told the boy, who was standing there digesting the information.

"So you two were badass gladiators?"

Crowbar let a chuckle out. "Hell yeah we were. We wound up being put into the doubles matches, facing off in two-versus-twos, and we were good at it. We eventually became one of the best tag teams in the whole of Kaon. People started waging on us, started to earn lots of money, and we became celebrities in the ring. And as we started to get better, we got closer as well. Really close." Crowbar's mouth formed a slight smile, remembering the nights of passion that the two of them shared after big victories. Splendid memories, they were.

"And then the war happened." Ethan said.

"Yeah, civil war. Kaon became a battleground, far bigger than anything we'd imagined. When it started getting bigger, Megatron came to me and offered another type of job other than being a soldier for the armies we'd built. She'd noticed my skills in the ring and my expertise in sabotage had gotten her attention and she wanted a Secret Police, so I took it. The only downside was that I had to leave Wildrider behind." Crowbar answered.

"Really? You left her for your new life as a Dread?" Ethan said incredulously. "How'd Wildrider like that little bit of news?"

"Let's just say that she didn't take it very well..."

...

 _-Kaon, millions of years ago-_

 _"You're going without me?!"_

That _went just as expected as he'd hoped the moment he'd told the news._

 _Crowbar was sure that both his audio receptors had been blown out, but a systematic double check cleared that it only a blowback from Wildrider's deafening scream that nearly caused him to lose his hearing. The two of them were in their shared apartment located in the underbelly of the gladiatorial arenas, or at least their formerly shared apartment. Crowbar's bombshell had certainly earned his eviction from the living space, not that it mattered. He'd be gone in the next megacycle anyway thanks to his new promotion._

 _Which had been the reason behind this whole dilemma between him and Wildrider. The femme had been looking through her collection of prized accessories that she had bought and been gifted to during their years. In her hand she held her favorite, a platinum heavy chain complete with a stylized pendant. She'd worn it in many battles, and had come to wear it as her signature piece. Crowbar had once worn a chain himself as did many other gladiators, even Megatron. It had grown popular in the earlier years of the underground for famous mechs and femmes to wear such things like chains, rings and even "blinged"-out weapons._

 _Both of them had joined the Decepticon movement, as issued by the purple insignia on his shoulders and on her chest. It was easy of them to join since they had been here, where Megatron made himself known many years ago on Declaration Day. The rest of the planet had responded as well. Crowbar and Wildrider hadn't been blind to the planetary politics of Cybertron. Time had come to choose a side and they had chosen._

 _"I've got more important things than to stay here and argue with you on this Wildrider." Crowbar said, trying to bury this conversation as fast as possible. He'd already thrown himself into a proverbial minefield and he didn't need to make it any worse. He'd slapped together the necessities from his home that he'd need later and all he needed was to leave. The shuttle was waiting for him at the docks._

 _"What could be more important than your friend?" She asked, crossing her arms while glaring at the mech in front of her._

 _"How about not sitting here on our afts all day wasting our time and waiting for some goddamn enforcers to come down and kill us! How about doing something bigger than just being a soldier! Does that sound more important?" Crowbar said back, his temper finally reaching its limit. He'd tried very hard not to lose his cool around Wildrider but he just couldn't hold it in anymore. He jabbed a finger at her chest and yelled, "Would it hurt you to think for once in your life?!"_

 _"I do think! I think about me, you and everyone else!" Wildrider cried back._

 _"Really? 'Cause all I see is someone who's willing to throw her life away without a purpose!" He yelled at her._

 _"So that's it? You're just gonna abandon me for some new group?!" The femme felt the sting of lubricant at back of her optics. This was getting too heavy for her to handle._

 _"If it means getting somewhere in life, then yes I would! Maybe you would too if you weren't so fragging **stupid**!" He roared at her, finally spilling his guts and losing what little self-control he'd attempted to have. He'd just wanted to let her go without any sort of drag but of course something just had to go wrong. Crowbar slowly realized what he'd just said as seen by Wildrider's stunned face, as if she'd been slapped. The amount of hurt in those optics burned into his soul._

 _"Wildrider, I didn't meant that." He said, but he'd said too much._

 _"Go." She said, in a defeated tone, a small river of coolant leaking from her optic, "Just go, Crowbar. I don't want to see you again."_

 _Crowbar knew that whatever bridge he'd crossed he had certainly burned now. He saw that in the hassle of their argument she'd dropped her chain, so he picked it up and tried to give it back. She pushed it away, shaking her head. It was a symbol of a life she didn't have anymore._

 _"No. I don't want it anymore." She said, and Crowbar slowly retracted his hand but kept the chain held. Crowbar knew it too. So he pocketed it in his personal subspace._

 _"Fine."_

 _And then he left, knowing full well it might be the last time he'd ever see her again._

...

"Smooth, Crowbar. Real smooth. Talking down to her like she's some sort of idiot and then you leave her heartbroken. That must make you feel super good about yourself, you assclown." Ethan glared at the Dread in front of him, who was having a sheepish look on his face. Hearing the words coming out of Crowbar's mouth was a whole different experience rather than Wildrider telling him tales. It had completely changed his view on the history between his guardian and the Dread. Now he knew for certain that Wildrider wasn't telling stretches of the truth, there was a large amount of veracity in her words regarding her ex.

"Look, I said some things that I shouldn't have, alright?" Crowbar said.

"Really? Like calling her stupid and saying you'd leave her if it meant getting ahead in life?" Ethan replied, "Y'know, maybe Wildrider was telling the truth about you." He found himself disliking the Dread the more he talked like it wasn't even his fault.

"I had no choice. I wasn't going to make her tag along like a lost orphan." Crowbar shot back. There was no way Wildrider of all femmes could survive being a Dread, and with their relationship it would have been costly to the Decepticons if anything happened to either one of them. Any sort of romantic partnership was highly discouraged in the Decepticon war machine, saying that it was an area of exploitation that the Autobots could use against them. Plus having more focus on winning battles was more important than winning dates.

"So why now?" Ethan asked, confusing the Dread, "Why the hell do you care about her so much anyway? Has it ever occurred to you that she doesn't want to be with you anymore?"

"Because dammit kid," And in Crowbar's clenched hand dangled a very familiar and very personal item that he had kept with him for many, many years; Wildrider's platinum chain, the very one that she had prized when she was younger. Ethan stared in awe at the shiny accessory, stunned that Crowbar had kept it for so long,

 _"I owe her._ I owe her for every battle we fought together and came out on top, owe her for sticking with me until the end. I've done a lot of dumb slag in my life and dumping Wildrider was up there, and I'll be damned if I don't get one last shot at being her friend."

Ethan looked long and hard into Crowbar's optics, and found that he was telling the truth in his vision. For all his spectacular blunder and bad attitude he really did want to get back in Wildrider's good graces again, but if Crowbar's earlier advice told him anything Wildrider wasn't just going to forget everything that the Dread said to her. She wasn't a "forgive and forget" type of femme. She could remember every word said to her, and she remembers everything. _Everything._

Ethan had to ask one final question, the one that had been bugging him for some time, ever since meeting Crowbar.

"Crowbar... did you love her?" He asked. This was taking a very personal turn, but this was his guardian, the one who had protected him for many years. He needed to know if the Dread was either being a lusty bastard only earning his way back into Wildrider's good side so that he could frag her and forget it, or he was truly trying to get back into her good graces as repent for destroying what friendship they had. Crowbar closed his eyes and huffed out some air from his vents.

"Yeah. Yeah kid, I did. She was the most awesome femme anyone could ask for and I totally blew it." The Dread answered with every bit of truth that he could pour into his words. He really did love Wildrider for who she was and who she is, that kickass dirty fighter that could make a crowd scream in hype. He'd blown his chance with her once, and he wasn't about to let another fly by.

"And you really want to make up for what you did?"

"Isn't that the point of this whole conversation?"

"Well for starters, have you apologized to her for calling her an idiot?" Ethan asked.

"Um..." Crowbar scratched the back of his head, and Ethan pressed his hand against his face.

"So you haven't done that. How about for saying that you'd leave her to get ahead in life?"

Silence. Crowbar blinked.

"Really?! None of that? Good god, no wonder she avoids you like the plague!" Ethan cried out. The boy mentally facepalmed that the Dread hadn't tried anything to win back Wildrider's favor. Unsurprisingly he was still being given the boot. "For goodness sake's Crowbar at least say you're sorry for the things you said! Maybe then Wildrider can see that you're trying to make up for, dude!"

"That's it? You want me to say that _I'm sorry_?" Crowbar said, incredulously.

"Yeah dude! Totally! Oh, and the chain too. Maybe if she sees that you held on to it for so long she might actually start liking you again, y'know. For being courteous." Ethan gestured towards the hunk of platinum in Crowbar's hands. He looked down at the glimmering trinket. He hadn't thought about that before. Truthfully he'd forgotten that he had the damn thing before arriving on Earth, only remembering once he had seen Wildrider roaming the _Nemesis_ in search of her charge. The idea of using it as a token of forgiveness wasn't a bad idea at all.

"Alright kiddo, you got yourself a deal." Crowbar smiled down at the boy, who responded by giving a thumbs up.

The sudden sound of a ground-bridge opening up startled the two. The Dread and the Stuntikid looked to the right, barely a hundred feet from them to see that there opened a portal, and the Dread had to guess that it wasn't theirs. And he was proven right as he saw a handful of Autobots jump out. From the portal came Prowl, Smokescreen, Arcee along with Shadowraid and suprisingly Ratchet, who he thought was dead. Looks like Sprawl missed his shot. Crowbar instantly took cover as much as he could behind the wrecked car, but thankfully the Autobots were too busy talking to Ratchet.

"Autobots? We should get outta here." Ethan said, taking a moment to peek around the vehicle. He'd much rather run and live than stay and fight for his life. He wasn't cut out for combat, leave that stuff for his commander. The Dread continued to watch, waiting for the right time to leave. As the Autobots started to walk towards the developing neighborhood, with all their backs turned to him, now he decided to make a move.

Crowbar transformed, and for the first time Ethan noticed that the Chevy Suburban had chrome razor wire knotted across the bars at the grill of the SUV. He found it to be rather fitting of Crowbar's personality as he hopped in shotgun and the two of them took off.

...

"Argh, I hate waiting!" Wildrider kicked a dumpster into a brick wall, shattering it like glass. If being separated from her charge wasn't bad enough, now she had to work _slowly_ with the biggest stiff in the cosmos. Shockwave had been with the drill ever since Crowbar left with Ethan to scout ahead in case of emergencies and that just left her by herself, and she hated being alone. "Could you hurry up? I'd rather get back to the _Nemesis_ with some of my youth, thank you."

"Your whining will not help the drill retrieve the relic any faster." Shockwave answered, and Wildrider turned away to pout.

 _"Wildrider, Shockwave, you there?"_

"Affirmative, Crowbar. What is your status?" Shockwave commanded.

 _"There aren't any humans around, but we've got Autobots scouring the area now. Five of them. Sooner or later they'll be on your asses and you've better get that relic out of the ground before they get to you. Me and Ethan will be back in a couple moments, so hang tight."_ Crowbar answered, leaving a bad taste in Wildrider's mouth. Since when has Crowbar addressed Ethan as anything other than "boy" or "kid"? Why use his real name? Wildrider felt a cold storm rising in her gut with the fear of Ethan getting too close to the Dread for her to be comfortable. She'd been in his shoes before.

"Copy that." Shockwave said, and at the same moment the drill let out a small _ping._

"The relic has been retrieved." Shockwave said, beginning to retract the drills and bringing up the relic. "I will need time to pull the artifact from the earth. Wildrider, cover me while I work."

" _Cover me while I work,"_ She said in a mocking tone, "You want me to shine your aft while I'm at it?" The Stunticon muttered silently and out of Shockwave's hearing. Wildrider stayed close by and cocked her rifle. Her optics watched every direction, every corner, watching out for anything that even closely resembled Autobot. It didn't help that it was night, and she couldn't really see in the dark.

If she had been paying attention to the unfinished mansion behind her, then she would have noticed a pair of orange optics staring at the both her and Shockwave...

...

"Five Autobots consisting of Ratchet, Smokescreen, Arcee, Prowl and Shadowraid. Arcee and Smokescreen I know are fighters, Ratchet not so much, Prowl can put up a fight when he's in a good mood, and Shadowraid. Who is she again?" Ethan counted off the names of the Autobots that he and Crowbar spotted, and now the two of them were racing to get back to Shockwave and Wildrider as fast as they could.

"She's an ex-Decepticon. 'Raid was with us for a while until Iacon was conquered. Now she's an Autobot." Crowbar explained as they rounded another corner.

"You think she'll turn back?"

"HAH!" Crowbar laughed, "You're funny, kid. Do humans have a massive sense of humor or is it just you? Nah, Shadowraid got herself caught, went turncoat and now works for them, probably because she can't stand her brother."

"Brother? That's Sprawl, right?" Ethan wondered, and didn't get an answer as an explosion rocked the construction zone. Ethan saw a fireball rise into the sky some distance in front of them, where Shockwave and Wildrider were currently digging. His eyes widened with fear. That could have been Wildrider! Crowbar made a hurried stop at a corner and opened his door. "That was at the drill site!"

"Get out, and stay low. I don't want Wildrider ripping off any of my appendages." Crowbar said, and the boy nodded. The Dread took off as fast as he could.

"Hurry Crowbar!" Ethan shouted. "Wildrider's in trouble!" He watched as the Dread shrunk from sight, and started to run right to the battle. Screw staying low, he had to get the relic!

...

Meanwhile at the dig site, the battle continued to rage. Shockwave was having a tough time fighting against three Autobots, even if they weren't as bulky or powerful as he was. Smokescreen avoided a blast from Shockwave's hyperflux cannon, and Prowl and Ratchet both charged at the monoptic scientist, who responded by slamming his fist into the ambulance's back, knocking him to the floor. Prowl tackled the Decepticon down but got a face full of fist as soon as they landed, freeing Shockwave, but yet again Shockwave was sent on the defense, having to try and avoid Ratchet's blades and Smokescreen's blaster fire.

Wildrider, however, was totally in her element.

"C'mon two-wheeler! I thought you were made of sterner stuff!" Wildrider laughed as she deflected blow after blow from Arcee, the Autobot finding plenty of trouble trying to land a hit. Wildrider was just bigger and stronger, but not as agile. Arcee, however, didn't have the strength to overpower the Stunticon. Wildrider kicked the smaller Autobot away, and was intercepted by Shadowraid, who swung her arm-blade to try and bisect the Decepticon, but Wildrider saw it coming and jumped back, gnashing her denta at the sight of the traitor.

"You..." Wildrider spat. "I heard about Sprawl's loser sister coming to Earth. How about I show you just how I treat backstabbing punks." She shot at the Nissan GTR while pounding her knuckledusters together, and Shadowraid snarled in anger. The talk of her brother was always something that drove her mad. She charged at Wildrider, going for a low swing and the Decepticon jumped, avoiding the orange blade. Shadowraid swung again, this time with a fist, which Wildrider turned her body and gave an uppercut to Shadowraid's face, then a body blow, which hit hard enough for her to cough out a glob of green fluid from her mouth, optics wide as saucers. The timely return of Arcee prevented Wildrider from knocking off Shadowraid's head.

"You're all gonna pay for what you did to Jack." Arcee said, her optics narrowing at Wildrider, who stood there confused before realizing what she was talking about.

"Aw, did widdle Jack got a boo-boo fighting a girl?" Wildrider mockingly pouted with a duck-face, knowing just how much it would piss off the Autobot. "I mean, come **on** Arcee. You could have at least taught him some moves, or something! I can totally get keeping him safe, but you don't want him to join your other partners in the afterlife, do you?"

Arcee grit her denta and ran at Wildrider, the Stunticon readying a fist to be sent straight for her face, but as she swung the Autobot feinted, and Wildrider watched with stunned optics as Arcee cocked her leg back and threw a vengeful spin-kick straight towards the side of her head.

"HIYAH!"

The hit landed, and Wildrider was sent spinning with stars in her vision. Who knew Arcee could kick that hard? Wildrider tried to shake it off but was kicked once again, this time in the gut and almost toppled right on her back, the impact jarring her brain and nearly making her lose conscious. She steadied herself with her hand on a light pole, trying not to have double vision. Arcee huffed and walked over to Shadowraid and offered a hand and she took it.

"Thanks for the save, Arcee. I owe you one." Shadowraid said and looked at Wildrider slowly making the world stop spinning by shaking her head and slapping her helm, blinking a couple times before focusing on the two Autobots in front of her.

The sound of a roaring engine caught the two Autobots off-guard, and turned around to see none other than Crowbar launch himself into the fray, transforming then jumping into the air with a spin-roll. The arrival of the Dread had been so sudden that the two female Autobots couldn't react in time as he reached towards his back and equipped the Dread's signature weapon of choice; explosive barbed spears, which he threw straight at them. Arcee was quick enough to slice the one he threw at her in two, but Shadowraid was not as fortunate and the spear embedded itself right into her left shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain.

"Shadow!" Arcee cried out as the spear exploded, taking Shadowraid's left arm off her body in a shower of metal and fire. The femme let out a horrendous howl of pain as she buckled to her knees and clutched her injury, eyeing her left arm which lay some distance away, the joint completely wrecked.

Crowbar landed on his feet and turned his attention to Wildrider, who was slowly regaining her senses together. Once she could see straight she noticed that there was a certain someone missing from the Dread's company.

"Where's Ethan?" She practically shouted at him, "Where is he?!"

"He's safe. I told him to stay away from the battle, once we've got the relic we can get him and head home." Crowbar answered, and Wildrider grumbled unintelligible curses. The two stood side-by-side as Arcee tried to slow down Shadowraid's wounds with little success. "She's done for, let's get the relic."

 _Ping!_

The Decepticons and Autobots heard the sound, realizing that the drill machine had successfully retrieved the relic, whatever it may be. Prowl made the first move and ran towards the drill away from Shockwave, who tried to grab the tactician before he could get there first. Smokescreen and Ratchet kept the Decepticon scientist busy. Crowbar and Wildrider ran as well, with the Dread intercepting Prowl before he could make a move. Wildrider charged right at the machine as Crowbar and Prowl fought to either protect the Stunticon or steal the relic from her. Crowbar managed to get Prowl in a headlock and give him a rather violent noogie, rubbing his sharp knuckles on Prowl's forehead.

"Ha ha ha! Suck it, nerd!" Crowbar said, like a tyrannical schoolyard bully.

"Arcee! Smokescreen! Focus on the relic!" Prowl shouted while trying to fight off Crowbar. The Dread hit his head and sent him straight to the ground, and Crowbar ran towards the drill. Smokescreen, ever the eager rookie made a move and went to attack Wildrider, who saw it coming and proceeded to fight him one to one. Smokescreen was showing that he wasn't just a newbie by throwing out precise strikes and hits, some of which actually managed to hit the Stunticon. His fist was then caught in one of her hands and she squeezed.

"It's rude to hit a girl, Smokey." She said to him. "Didn't your teacher tell you that?"

"Alpha Trion told me that the ways of justice aren't prohibited by gender," Smokescreen replied, taking a moment to glare at Wildrider right at her optics. "So don't think you're getting off easy, Stunticon."

"Party pooper, no cake for you."

Shadowraid sucked in air and allowed her dampeners to bar the pain from becoming overwhelming. It was a miracle she was still operational with her injury. With her being without an arm, she was pretty much useless in the fight. Just as she was going to call it quits, she noticed that there was a human hiding in one of the houses with a metal arm, watching the battle unfold. If her research was correct, then this human could be one of theirs.

Wildrider wailed blow after blow on Smokescreen, the cadet having to put his arms up to block the Stunticon's assault. Sparks flew as her fists collided with his arms, shoulders and even his gut. He could feel her knuckledusters making dents in his body with every strike, making it harder and harder for him to continue playing defensive. A single punch to his gut made him drop his guard and she gave an uppercut, sending the cadet into the air and crashing down on a streetlight. Smokescreen tried getting up, reaching to stand, but collapsed. Wildrider smirked as she turned to see Crowbar sock Prowl right in the face to send the Praxian sailing into a mansion. He looked back to see that his ex was watching him.

"Just like old times, eh?" The Dread walked up and readied a fist-bump, and Wildrider stared at him.

"Too soon?"

Shockwave struggled to get the medic off of him. He twisted his arm to pry Ratchet off his spine and slammed him into the ground with Ratchet letting out a cry of pain. Shockwave leveled his hyperflux cannon at Ratchet's spark, the Autobot feeling a sense of deja vu.

"Any last words?" Shockwave asked.

Ratchet said nothing, not wanting to give Shockwave the satisfaction of finishing him off. Sprawl had tried to do that and failed. Shockwave would not make the same mistake, powering up his cannon to waste away Ratchet.

"Stop right there Shockwave!" The one-eyed scientist saw Shadowraid still functional, and holding someone in her hand, "Or the human traitor gets it." In her right hand was Ethan, trying to get out of Shadowraid's unbreakable grip. Her thumb pressed on his head to make him stop. Wildrider's optics went wide at the sight of her precious charge being handled by Autobots.

"ETHAN!" Wildrider screamed, and was held back by Crowbar from running up there and murdering the Autobot where she stood. Shockwave powered down his cannon, allowing Ratchet to return to his kind without dying.

"Now that I have your attention, I think we can make a deal; you leave the relic here for us and we give you the kid. Sound fair?" Shadowraid said, allowing the rest of the battered Autobots to regroup and stand facing the Decepticons. Shockwave stood behind Crowbar and Wildrider, taking a moment to look back at the drill. The relic had been retrieved. The three Decepticons huddled up to decided whether or not to leave the relic behind. Shockwave knew that his input was only as good as his own, so a vote had to be cast.

"So what do we do? Let them have Ethan but we get the relic?" Crowbar addressed.

"We're not leaving Ethan to them. Give 'em the damn relic." Wildrider gave her expected input, totally in for giving whatever they dug up for her charge safely returned. Wildrider turned her head to make sure Ethan was still breathing, but this time he was in Prowl's hands as Shadowraid was being fixed by Ratchet. It only made her more worried that the cold, calculating tactician had her boy in his hands.

"We cannot allow the Autobots any strategic victory, Wildrider. It is imperative that the Decepticons remain victorious in retrieving relics." Shockwave said. While he knew the strategic importance to having human agents on Earth it was far too critical that the Decepticons get as many relics as they could.

"At Ethan's expense?! If we give him to them, who knows if we'll get him back? I say we give them the relic." Wildrider gave her final answer.

"I say we let them take the boy." Shockwave and Wildrider turned to the last member of their group, who had remained mostly silent and listening in to the conversation. Crowbar mentally sighed, _of course his vote would be the most important_. Both of them gave valid points; Ethan was very important to the Stuntikids as their medic and Wildrider's charge, so leaving him would be detrimental towards both. On the other hand, this relic could be a deciding factor towards winning or losing the war, but it also could be a completely useless trinket. Crowbar reviewed both arguments slowly.

He gave his answer.

"We can't leave Ethan. The boy is crucial for both the Stuntikids and the Stunticons. Wildrider's right. We might not ever see him again if we give him to them, and we can't replace someone like him." Crowbar said, stunning the Stunticon next to him. To hear the Dread defend her point was something almost otherworldly as they were. Why would he want to keep Ethan?

"Your answer is logical." Shockwave said, understanding their points. The Autobots watched as Shockwave made their way towards them, "The relic is yours, now hand us the boy and we shall leave."

Prowl slowly but surely handed Ethan over to the scientist, the boy blowing a raspberry at the tactician after being handed to Shockwave.

"Soundwave, we require a ground-bridge." Shockwave spoke to the _Nemesis_ while handing the boy over to his guardian, who eagerly took him.

* * *

 _-the Nemesis-_

The Decepticons returned, walking into the portal room empty-handed but together again. When the three of them returned the _Nemesis,_ Shockwave left the Dread and the Stunticon, returning to his lab to continue his experiments and report their loss to Megatron. They all knew that she wasn't going to be happy with this mission failed. Wildrider and Crowbar made their own separate way towards either the rec-room or the shooting range to blow off some steam. If it meant avoiding Megatron for a small amount of time, they'd take it.

"We lost," Ethan said, getting a little emotional for the fact that he'd cost the Decepticons a relic, stuffing his hands in his pockets with a sorrowful frown, "I'm sorry guys, I messed this all up." He rubbed his eyes.

"C'mon kiddo, don't be so gloom." Crowbar said, smiling down at the boy, "You win some, you lose some."

"Since when are you so friendly?" Wildrider asked with an edge to her voice. "Mind telling me what you two did while I had to stay with Shockwave?"

"Just dude talk, Wildrider." Ethan said from his place in Wildrider's hands. "Nothing special."

"Alright, I'll take your word for it." The Stunticon shrugged, and then smiled at him. She knew a way to get his mood up again, "You up for a re-run of _JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency_?"

"Sure. Can Crowbar come watch with us?" Ethan asked, and Wildrider froze in her tracks. Those words, _oh those (literally) dreaded words_ that came out of his mouth only fueled some of her worst fears that Ethan was getting friendly with Crowbar. Said Dread was standing next to them, Ethan looking back and forth from Wildrider's wincing face to Crowbar's slightly surprised one, who had not expected the Stuntikid to invite him to watch anime with the both of them. It was a little flattering to be honest. He'd rarely been invited anywhere that wasn't a top-secret mission.

"Hey Wildrider, I know it might be a little awkward for me to come and watch some shows with your kid, so I don't have to come. But before I do I want to give you something," Crowbar reached back and pulled out something she thought she'd never see again. The platinum chain. Her favorite. The same one she'd worn all those eons ago. He stuck his hand out for her to take it, "Here. I... I held on to it, for personal reasons, really. I guessed you'd might want it back since... I don't know. Maybe you would like it back, or not."

"You kept it." She said quietly in a very quiet tone of voice, almost unbelieving, staring down at the accessory. "For all these years. Why?"

"Because I'm sorry."

Wildrider blinked. Did she hear him right? Meanwhile Ethan was smiling ear to ear.

"You're what?"

"I'm _sorry._ I'm sorry for leaving you behind when I promised we'd join the Decepticons together. I'm sorry for calling you an idiot all those years ago because you cared for both me and you rather than just yourself." He said, not holding back on what he wanted to say. There was no going back now. He couldn't just say _psyche! I got you!_ and believe it. "I don't expect you to forgive me, I just want you to understand."

Wildrider said nothing. She couldn't. For so long she'd lived with the fact that Crowbar had left her for selfish reasons, and now hearing him confess that he was sorry was a bit much for her right now. She'd nearly lost her charge, her precious boy, to the Autobots. And now Crowbar was apologizing. Was this real life? Was fate playing a game with her feelings? It took a minute, but it suddenly started to make itself clear. Why else would Crowbar wait ten million years to apologize unless someone talked him into it?

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Wildrider realized just how proud she was of Ethan.

She pursed her lips, wondering just what she could say. Those words still stung, even if they were millions of years old. Trust came really hard for her, even before meeting Crowbar, and then the Stunticons. It wasn't something that she could hand out freely. And yet, the chain she held in her hand indicated that Crowbar really was trying to earn her forgiveness, which only fueled more confusion within her mind. She closed her eyes and accepted that maybe, just maybe, Crowbar was actually turning a new leaf with her and attempting to make up what he said.

"It's a start," She finally said, and Crowbar smiled. At least she acknowledged that he was trying. Wildrider slowly put the chain around her neck, feeling the smooth weight on her chest. It felt... _right_ to have it again, a memoir of her past. She turned around to head to the rec-room, Ethan tagging along side her feet. After a few moments, Wildrider stopped and looked back to see the Dread still standing there.

"Well?"

Crowbar turned his head, "Well what?"

"Aren't you coming?"

"R-Really?" The Dread said, astonished that Ethan's advice had earned him some down time with Wildrider. He made a mental note to thank the boy once they were alone. Truthfully he was on his way to meet up with Crankcase and Hatchet, but that could wait. "I mean, thank you." He quickly walked up to the Stunt duo. "By the way, what is _JoJo's Bizarre Adventure_? Is that one of the human "anime" things that the vehicons watch?"

"It's not just an anime, Crowbar! It's," Ethan sniffed and held his head up high, "an _adventure!_ "

"Really? I couldn't tell," Crowbar said sarcastically.

"Let him enjoy this moment," Wildrider said to the Dread, "He doesn't get to talk about his guilty pleasures that often."

"Hey, you enjoy it too!"

* * *

 **Oh my god this chapter kicked my ass to Cybertron and back. Not only was I constantly revising it to make it feel realistic, but my work schedule has been so overwhelming and my personal life is a major blockade. Every scene that was written here I redid because it felt all wrong.**

 **But I finally managed to get it right! Wildrider and Crowbar are (maybe) friends again(?), but the Decepticons lost the relic. Oh well. Even trade. Also, Wildrider now has a chain, which is something that I found that was really cool that they added in The Last Knight. Many of the Decepticons in that movie had chains, such as Barricade, Nitro Zeus and Onslaught each had one. It was also in Megatron: Origin, as Megatron in his gladiator days wore a chain with the Decepticon symbol on it. Who knows, maybe another Decepticon could get one.**

 **See you soon.**


	8. Easy Peasy

- _middle of nowhere, USA-_

The chilly autumn air of Nebraska was the first thing that hit Bridgette the moment that she, Motormaster and Roadraider stepped out of the ground-bridge. She was very thankful that she managed to remember to bring a winter jacket for the occasion. The early morning snowfall crunched underneath her feet, and she shielded her eyes from the rising sun poking out east from the hills. Motormaster peered towards the horizon, looking out for anything that could spell trouble while Roadraider gazed into the landscape, admiring the beautiful sunrise over the grasslands.

"Hoo, chilly," Bridgette said, rubbing her hands together. "Thank god I remembered to bring my jacket."

"You want to hop in my cabin?" Motormaster asked, kneeling down towards his charge. She waved him off while shaking her head.

"Nah, it's cool. I can handle the cold." Bridgette pulled out her phone to check the local time. The large numbers on screen said 7:02, just in time for the day to get going. The early rise over Nebraska would give the three of them an easy ride to the relic without it becoming a hassle, and without another human soul in sight or any sign of the Autobots, the Decepticons were pretty much in the clear. Roadraider pointed his tracker around, trying to find a signal to head towards.

Bridgette tucked in her hands in her pockets, putting her phone back in her pocket. With the morning chill she could see her breath steaming in the air. She peered down the dirt road that the three of them bridged on, the sight bringing back nearly forgotten memories of her own family road trips, years before she became a Decepticon. She remembered the old station wagon that her father had, her mother trying to tune into the radio to find some tunes, and Bridgette sitting in the back reading a book or looking out the window. Simpler times, happier times.

"Bridgette?" She realized that she had been lost in her own world, and turned to see her guardian trying to get her attention. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mos'. Just got a snowflake in my eye," Bridgette responded quickly. It hadn't occurred to her that she was getting a little emotional, and quickly rubbed her eyes to rid the tears threatening to spill. The memories of her dead family would always bring back that same despondent feeling inside of her, threatening to break out. The last thing she wanted was to start weeping front of her guardian and Roadraider, so she sucked in her emotions with a shallow breath and kept walking.

Motormaster didn't bother asking after that. He knew exactly what was going on, and so he left her alone.

"The tracker says that the relic is over that way, about four miles up this road." Roadraider said, finally getting the exact coordinates. He pointed towards the north, through the hills. Bridgette peered and saw that there was an actual tarmac road leading to where he pointed, so there at least will be some people still around these parts. Roadraider and Motormaster transformed, the two trucks side by side. It seemed a bit out of the ordinary to see a pair of bigrigs in the middle of nowhere in the heartland of Nebraska. Their engines rumbled to life as Bridgette hopped inside of Motormaster's cabin and the three Decepticons drove onwards.

Bridgette had just taken off her jacket before the radio's intercom buzzed to life. She stared at it, wondering just who was calling her guardian.

"It's Roadraider," Motormaster told her, "He wants to talk," Motormaster said through the steering wheel, the Decepticon insignia flickering as talked. Bridgette found herself a little stunned that the other Decepticon would want to simply talk. He had expressed his interest in learning about the Stuntikids from her perspective, so maybe he was calling now to have an earful about their history. They might as well have some excuse to kill time, rather than sitting around in silence.

"Alright then," Bridgette said, somewhat befuddled, and yanked the mic from the holster towards her mouth. "Hello?"

 _"Ah, Bridgette. Hello there."_ Roadraider spoke, _"I was going to ask if you wanted to finish our earlier discussion about the role your group plays."_

"Roadraider, is this the best time?" Bridgette asked, scratching the back of her head, "When I said that it was a long story, I kind of meant it. Like, this is three years of my life we're talking about, a couple minutes isn't going to cover the whole thing." Bridgette was telling the honest truth. Her time as leader of the Stuntikids was filled with adventures, hardships and power struggles, so many that Bridgette couldn't remember most of them. She didn't mind talking to Roadraider about anything that he wanted to know. He was a Decepticon, like her. Most of the things that the Stuntikids did were accessible in the database of the _Nemesis,_ every report that she herself had written down and typed up logged straight into the mainframe of the ship. Soundwave had made sure that their group was heavily monitored and even regulated to a point. Couldn't risk any of them jumping ship at the first moment of freedom.

 _"You don't have to tell me your life story among the Decepticons Bridgette,"_ Roadraider said back. Bridgette leaned down to adjust the air vents. Her lips felt dry. _"Perhaps it isn't the best time to have this talk. Shall we have this discussion sometime elsewhere?"_

"That would be nice, how about later at dinner? I'll get some takeout and we can talk about whatever you want." Bridgette responded. It was nice that Roadraider was a respectful Decepticon, as compared to most of the _Nemesis_ he was up there just below her guardian. Many of the Decepticons on the warship never really respected the Stuntikids as individual humans, only really looking at them for what they accomplished as a collective group. Turmoil's troops, including Roadraider, were interested in them mainly because they were little aliens in their midst. They had never seen humans until they arrived. Though it was nice of Roadraider to be considerate once in a while.

 _"Sure thing."_

"Hey 'Raider," Motormaster spoke up, "after you're done trying to fancy up my charge, you mind telling us just where we're headed?"

"Hey!" Bridgette cried out playfully and lightly kicked the underside of the dashboard. She could hear that smirk on Motormaster's hidden face somewhere.

 _"The tracker points towards an unused military base about two cycles ahead of us. A quick background check for the area says that the place has been abandoned for nearly five decades. Apparently the human government was using it as a test site for developmental aircraft."_ Roadraider responded, _"As for the relic, I do believe that it is located somewhere underneath the installation, probably accessed by humans before being left alone."_

"Ooh, abandoned military base hiding deadly secrets? That's so cliche, but sounds like fun. Reminds me of Ethan's comic books." Bridgette said, leaning back against the chair. Her eye caught a sign coming up on the right, saying in bold black letters; WARNING: RESTRICTED AREA.

 _"You think there'll be humans in here? With this amount of secrecy we might just wind up running into an army."_

"Nah, they put those things up there so that people like us don't get nosy." Bridgette waved it off, "Places like this only have a single patrolman going around in a car once in a while to make sure young punks don't trespass. Trust me, I've watched plenty of videos on this sort of stuff." The amount of time that she had wasted watching YouTube videos on abandoned exploration and adventures into the unknown had come back to fuel her mind. The three of them going into this place would have to watch their back every now and then, which would be rather humorous with Motormaster and Roadraider being forty-foot tall aliens. Couldn't really hide in a dark alley.

"You spend too much time on the web."

"Bite me."

 _"Both of you, be on your guard. We're approaching the front gate, and by the looks of it we're not the first ones here."_ Roadraider was right, the front gates had been opened. There was a pair of tire tracks, large ones, entering the base. And there was also footsteps, ones that looked like they belonged on a huge lizard. Bridgette hopped out, and the two Decepticons behind her transformed to their full height and pulled out their weapons. Motormaster's thunder sword sparked with high blue energy while Roadraider's dual blade katana glimmered in the early sun.

Roadraider knelt down to get a closer look at who came before them. By the looks of things, they were definitely left by the Autobots, but who?

"Any guess?" Motormaster asked his friend.

"They're obviously truck tires, no doubt. Big ones, too. From what we know of the Autobot forces here on Earth, there's only one of them that turns into a truck like us."

"Optimus," Bridgette said, her eyes widening. The leader of the Autobots was here?

"That's not all. See those giant footprints? I recognize them from one of my battles in the Antarctic. It's a Dinobot, but it's not Grimlock. His feet are more wide and the toes are thicker. These ones are longer and more spread out. More likely it's Scorn who came with Optimus Prime, and that makes this far more dangerous," Roadraider said, standing up straight once more to gaze into the run-down asylum in front of them, "Scorn's more likely to try and kill us rather than force us to surrender, since being under Grimlock's command has taught him so. Fighting Optimus might be the safest option for now."

"Y'know you say that as if that's a good thing," Bridgette leaned over to gaze at Roadraider, "because it isn't. Optimus isn't a pushover, he's the leader of the Autobots for a reason. I say we try to avoid any fighting, unless they have the relic of course, then we can take them."

This also presented another source of trouble for Bridgette. Holly's revelation that there were more humans on the Autobot side, and that they worked with the Dinobots, meant that she was definitely going to encounter one of them here. Perhaps it wouldn't be their leader, she didn't know. This new adversary could be a meek, mellow person or a total psycho. There was no telling who she would find in that base. There was also another possibility that she didn't like; getting killed by Autobots. Their moral code forbade them from killing humans, but Autobot humans could be the way around said rule. Bridgette never killed, but that didn't mean her opponent would have that same conscious fiber.

"The tracker indicates that the relic is deep in the heart of the bunker, but that's also where the tracks lead as well. So either we're going in, or going around."

Motormaster paused for a moment to think this out. "Roadraider, me and you will go forward and try to keep the Autobots busy if we can find 'em. Bridgette, you keep going to try and find the relic. We'll cover your trail as best as we can. Think you can handle going on foot for a while?"

"Duh, 'Mos. I'm not scared."

"Good. Now let's move out, Decepticons."

...

And so they split up, with Motormaster and Roadraider marching straight into the abandoned base to confront the Autobots while Bridgette stayed far away from the battle and get the relic on her own. Bridgette herself kept low to the ground, making sure to look for any sign of the Autobots as she moved through the immense concrete and steel jungle surrounding her. The more she explored, the more she began to feel that there was something off about this place. Most of the buildings were old and rusted down, covered in vines and frost from being unused for many years. There were cars here too, broken down and rusting apart at the seams. But some of the lights were still on, giving her a path to follow. Why was there still power on at the base? Roadraider said that this place had been abandoned for decades, so there shouldn't be anything still working around here.

She had a feeling that she would find out sooner or later.

The morning sun had not yet risen high enough for them to not be necessary to see so Bridgette made the most of what little time there was and followed, sticking to the shrubbery next to the street so she wouldn't be seen. So far, there wasn't a single sign of any human working here, or Autobot interloper. Yet she still remained on guard. She hadn't come this far just to get a little sloppy and get herself captured or worse, killed. So she kept an eye out for anything that had a red face on it.

Moving quickly from road to road, she saw that ahead of her at the center of the complex lay what appeared to be a large office building with blacked-out windows surrounded by a gated fence. No cameras were visible, and the streets in front of her were covered in foliage, meaning nobody had come around this area in a long time. This time she moved herself inside an open building, the windows all shattered and covered in vines and graffiti. So far, she was in the clear. Not a single sign of Autobots or humans, but just to be sure she dialed Motormaster's comm-link with her smartphone.

 _"Bridgette?"_ Motormaster answered, _"What's wrong?"_

"Nothing's wrong 'Mos. Just wondering if you'd seen any sign of the Autobots." She replied.

 _"No sign on our end. It's weird, I was expecting them to jump us as soon as we crossed the gate."_ Motormaster said, _"How close are you to the relic?"_

"My thing here says that it's in that big black office building in front of me, can you see it from where you are?" Bridgette asked, peeking over to get a view of her target. Still she was the only one here. "I'm gonna try and head in without getting seen."

 _"Yeah, I see it. I wish you luck and-"_ Motormaster was suddenly cut off. Bridgette pulled her phone away from her head to see if it was the connection.

"'Mos? You there?" She asked, and got no reply. The only thing that she could hear was the static coming from her phone's speakers. So it was the connection. Whatever caused her to lose coverage could be explored later, right now she needed to get in there and fast. With no time to waste she high-tailed it straight forward, running as fast as she could. She'd barely taken five steps before she heard something stomp behind her. Bridgette in a moment of fear stopped, and slowly turned her head around to see who was behind her. And as soon as she saw him, Bridgette knew that she was knee-deep in trouble.

"Well well well, look what I found," Scorn said, lumbering towards her with his Scrapmaker sword trailing behind him, "a Decepticon stray, lost from the pack."

"Oh shit oh shit _oh shit!_ " Bridgette panted, scrambling to get away from the Dinobot. She knew it was stupid to think that she could outrun him, but she had to do something? What else could she do? "Piss off you lizard!" She shouted at him, as if it would deter him from his mission. If only she'd seen the simmering glow behind his electric blue visor.

"C'mere you little bitch," Taking a couple steps forward and with a strong swipe Scorn snatched Bridgette off the ground and into his armored gauntlet, not bothering to be gentle with her. His jagged fingers squeezed around her body as he lifted her up to optic level. "Optimus, you wouldn't believe who I just found here in this ruin. Yeah, I'm talking about a Stuntikid. It's the one with the big blobs on her chest and the goofy hair."

 _Goofy?_ Bridgette scowled internally.

Scorn's visor widened slightly, "Their _leader_ , eh? Yeah, I got her. Wanna come say hi?"

"Screw you!" Bridgette shouted at him, and in turn he shook her around to keep her silent.

"Quiet 'Con, I'm talking." Scorn said to her.

Bridgette turned her head to hear more footsteps, and saw that Optimus Prime was coming their way. Bridgette couldn't help but stare in shock that the leader of the Autobots was standing right in front of her, staring her down. His blue optics seemed to bore into her soul, as if he was judging himself for allowing humans to be welcomed into the Decepticons. It was ironic, him trying to protect the human race but some of them turn out to be working for the enemy. The species he trusts the most other than his own are now his adversaries, or some of them are. She knew that Optimus found it troubling that humans would side with the Decepticons, and that she was his best way to sway them to their side.

Unfortunately for him, he knew that it was a futile attempt. The Stuntikids had proven time and time again that their loyalty was to Lady Megatron and the Decepticons, and there wasn't a single thing that the Autobots could give to change that. Bridgette was a special case being their leader, and since the rest of the Stuntikids followed her orders to a point she was the biggest prize of the five of them. Capturing her would potentially cripple the Stuntikids.

With Motormaster and Roadraider nowhere to be seen and her phone gone haywire, Bridgette knew that she was in a right pickle.

"Hey, Optimus. You think there's any more Decepticons around here?" Scorn said to the Prime, "There's no way that they'd just send this little thing on her own to get the relic. Achilles is heading over to the relic as we speak, so it's as good as our's."

 _Achilles? As in the ancient hero? The guy who got shanked in the leg?_ Bridgette thought. Achilles might be one of the Autobot humans that Holly had talked about. She'd certainly hadn't heard of any Autobot calling themselves Achilles. And since she hadn't even seen anyone calling themselves Achilles, so it made sense that he or she was an Autobot human.

"Bridgette is often seen with Motormaster, as the two are charge and guardian. It stands to reason that he has arrived alongside Bridgette, scouring the area to search for us while she looks for the relic inside this compound." Optimus said. Bridgette wasn't really surprised that Optimus was able to guess correctly. It was a sound strategy and often worked out for both sides to use their charges as relic finders, while their guardians would duke it out and protect them. However, not everything goes to plan as evident with the scene right now.

"Huh. So what do we do with her?" Scorn asked, looking down at the Decepticon he held.

"In light of recent events," Optimus began, looking down at Bridgette, "we shall treat her as any other Decepticon prisoner."

"Huh, so we don't kill her?" Scorn asked, and Bridgette felt the overwhelming sense of dread starting to creep up her spine. She sure as hell didn't want to die at the hands of a Dinobot.

"No, for it would go against Autobot code to end the life of an unarmed combatant," Optimus said, "But that does not mean that she is free to leave. Bridgette, who are the other Decepticons that came with you?" The Prime asked, and Bridgette cleared her throat before answering.

"You mind telling tall, dark and angry over here to let me have some air?" Bridgette emphasized her point by nodding towards Scorn, "I can barely feel my arms."

"You're lucky you're feeling anything at _all,_ 'Con." Scorn replied.

"Well, in that case, you can figure out who's here with me on your own then," Bridgette said, taking a moment to be sassy. Scorn glared down at the smirking human in his hand and just barely resisted the urge to crush her into a pulpy mess. She knew that he was baiting him with Optimus in front of him. "In fact, I think you're gonna find out just now, Scorn."

"What do you mean?" Scorn asked lowly, and the two Autobots turned their heads to see a pair of trucks barreling down on them at top speed. By the time they'd realized who it was, Motormaster and Roadraider had already transformed and threw themselves at both Optimus and Scorn. Optimus was able to block most of the attack from Roadraider while Motormaster full-on drop-kicked Scorn, releasing Bridgette from his grasp. The young woman fell down onto an overgrown lawn as the Autobots and Decepticons got themselves prepared for battle in front of her. Motormaster stood between her and Scorn.

"Bridgette! GO!" Motormaster yelled as he readied his thundersword and took a swipe at Scorn. "We'll hold them off!"

"Right!" Bridgette said and took off towards the black building, running as fast as she could. The cold air stung her face and her sore body, but right now dealing with pain was the last thing that she wanted to do. She had a relic to secure and her guardian was counting on her.

"Like hell you will!" Scorn roared back and flexed his sword out and aimed for the Decepticon, and noticed that there was a certain girl missing.

"Optimus! The human!" Scorn pointed towards the fleeing Bridgette. Optimus noticed the human Decepticon running and tried to chase her down but was held back by Roadraider attempting to cut off his head. Optimus's dual arm blades just made it time to avoid losing his head to Roadraider's dual blade katana. The two weapons let out a loud clang upon contact. Optimus and Roadraider each gave it their strength to try and overpower the other, but neither were letting up.

"Your fight's with me, Prime! Not the little human!"

Bridgette made it to the fence, clambering over it in a hurry and being careful not to get her clothes stuck on the chain links. With the battle behind her, she made her way into the building through the front door, noticing that it was unlocked for some odd reason. She looked back to see her guardian struggling against the Dinobot. Scorn was swinging huge Scrapmaker sword like a madman and Motormaster was just keeping up with his own parries. And with that, she disappeared straight into the bunker. Motormaster looked on to see his charge enter the building, and his task was done.

"Roadraider!" Motormaster quickly ducked another strike from Scorn, "Let's move!"

"Aye!" The two trucks jumped from their battles and transformed, driving away as fast as they could. Scorn and Optimus gave chase, following the Decepticons through the abandoned buildings around them. Motormaster knew that he was taking a gamble with drawing the Autobots attention away to elongate the battle, pushing their attention away from the relic. He simply hoped that his charge would be able to get there in time.

 _C'mon Bridge, I'm counting on you._

...

If Bridgette knew anything about creepy abandoned military bases, it was that the secret lay at the bottom floor. The more she ventured forth into the building the more she was beginning to think that this place might not be as abandoned as they thought. There seemed to still be some sort of life still lingering inside, as the deeper she went and the more doors she passed it began to become cleaner, more fixed with lights and heating. But still there wasn't a single soul to be found. Why it was unlocked and clearly abandoned for no reason continued to haunt her.

Bridgette opened a double-door to reveal an open room, a lobby with a row of chairs at either side and a huge front desk. What really caught her eye was the symbol that lay engraved on the floor. It was a pentagon, with three lines traced from three of its sides that go inwards towards a hexagon, which had one third of it red, another black, and the other with black and white stripes. There were letters and numbers as well as more shapes.

"S7?" Bridgette said to herself, "What the hell's S7?"

She didn't bother to stick around to find out, heading further inwards. On the wall lay a directory for each floor and Bridgette read each one to make sure that she would be going to the right place. She wouldn't find a relic in the intern offices.

"Seventh floor, NBE Labs. Huh, that's gotta be where they're keeping it," With that in mind she roamed to find an elevator, passing by empty offices and desks. It started to get to her nerves how alone she was in here. The only sounds that she had for comfort were her own footsteps and the air conditioning. Once she found an elevator she can get on with this and get the hell out of this creepy place. Finally she found an elevator, a modern one. And yet the moment she pressed the button to open the doors, she heard something else.

 _Like a sword scraping against a tile floor..._

Bridgette frantically pressed the button, as if it would make the elevator come up faster. She'd already dealt with Autobots, she didn't want to deal with any more! She didn't have the time! As the sound got closer, she turned around to face just who or what was making that noise. Turns out it was another human like her, but Bridgette knew that he spelled trouble to moment he rounded the corner. She'd been so preoccupied with facing down her new enemy that she didn't notice that the elevator had arrived.

The boy in front of her had wild, unkempt hair and a metal whip that ended in a blade. He didn't wear armor, just a dark gray tank top and heavy sports pants. His steel-tipped boots clanged with every step. The moment he locked eyes with Bridgette from his end of the hallway, she caught sight of his stormy blue eyes, full of barely-controlled frenzy.

It was Bridgette that spoke first.

"Who are you?" She asked, buying time and hearing the _ding_ behind her. The elevator was here. The boy in front of her seemed to recognize her.

"You're Bridgette Ramsey, the Stuntikid boss," he said, his raspy voice sending all kinds of bad messages down her spine, "Figured I'd meet you down here. The name's Achilles, but that doesn't matter, 'cuz I'm gonna knock your fuckin' brains out, bitch."

 _Of course he's a total nutjob,_ Bridgette groaned internally, jumping back as Achilles charged her with a wild swing from what appeared to be a chain sword. The blade glimmered as it sliced across the air, nearly maiming her nose. As she jumped back, she noticed the open elevator door, and realized that she had to put some distance between her and Achilles so that she didn't have to fight him going down, so she gave a strong kick to his gut knocking him on his back.

Achilles let out a surprised grunt when Bridgette kicked him. The sucked in the pain and clutched his stomach as he stood up again and saw that Bridgette had made it inside the elevator, and was pressing the close door button frantically.

"Oh no you don't, Decepticon!" Achilles yelled as he charged once again, only this time he couldn't make it as the elevator doors closed on him.

Inside Bridgette gave a sigh of relief, thinking that she had made it out without much of a fight. Her relief turned to horror as a blade pierced the door in front of her, sinking about a foot in. It happened again, and Bridgette realized that this psycho boy was trying to cut his way in. Thankfully the elevator decided to work this time and proceeded to travel down. The sword strikes relented, but the boy had some interesting things to say, speaking through the cut marks from the door above her.

"You hear me Bridgette!? I'll find you down there and rip out your fuckin' guts! That's a fucking promise, 'Con!" He yelled some more after that, but it became muffled when she started to go lower and lower, deeper into the earth. Bridgette wiped the sweat off her brow. She'd had one too many close shaves today.

"That was something," she mumbled. Since when did the Autobots have such bloodthirsty humans? She was lucky that she didn't get maimed by crazy man above her.

The elevator continued going. Bridgette stood idly by as the floor numbers ticked down right to number seven. It was quite some time, at least a couple minutes before she reached it. The doors opened to reveal a long, stark white hallway littered with white tapestry. Bridgette felt like she'd just entered a quarantine zone. The same S7 symbol that she'd seen upstairs was on the floor in front of her, which lead to a large double door. She entered, and to her surprise there appeared to be another massive room with six equally massive tubes on the wall. They were connected to a series of pipes and wires, keeping them frozen. The chilly air was amplified with the cooling units on the wall behind her.

Bridgette took out her tracker and realized that this, whatever lay inside the six tubes, was the relic. By the sheer size, she'd never get these things out on her own and it was too deep for any cell reception, so her best bet was to try and defrost them.

Her exploration was cut short when she heard the elevator down the hallway close, and then leave.

She'd totally forgotten about Achilles.

"Better hurry up Bridge," Bridgette mumbled to herself, running over to one of the panels in front of a tube. She tapped on the touch screen and saw that there was indeed a defrost option, but it needed to be activated in the control room, which Bridgette saw was above her in a glass room overlooking the six tubes. What really surprised her was that there _still_ wasn't a single human soul around, much to her confusion. This must be the top-secret laboratory that she guessed about earlier. She'd thought that she must have at least run into one or two scientists or guards, but there was nobody.

Unless she counted Achilles, who was slowly catching up.

Entering the control room from a staircase near the huge room, she finally saw what appeared to be a sign that there was at least people that worked here. A mug of coffee, still and lukewarm, was on the central computing mainframe's desk. She ignored it, and tapped a button on the keyboard to get started.

"Alright, log reports, salvages, research studies... ah ha! Emergency defrost!" She pressed the initiation key, "That was a little easy peasy, to be honest."

"Really? Easy Peasy?"

Bridgette nearly jumped out of her skin at hearing another voice, only this time it wasn't Achilles. It was someone else. She saw that it was a man, clad in a black and white suit. He had a crisp, clean look with his tanned skin and short, black curly hair. He was also armed, holding a pistol straight to her head. She raised her hands, knowing not to do anything stupid with this guy. She also saw two other agents with him, another man and a woman holding a purse bag.

"Who are you, the Men in Black?" She asked.

"We're Sector Seven," the agent pointing the gun answered.

"Never heard of it."

"Never will. So," he began with a strong sound, "you're Bridgette Ramsey, the leader, commander, den mother of the Decepticon human faction." The man spoke as the two other agents walked around him to stand on either side of Bridgette, effectively trapping her. She noticed this, and since she couldn't really make a fight without getting herself killed, she let it happen for now.

"So I've heard."

"So you've heard," he condescendingly replied, and put away his pistol once the other agents grabbed her arms and put them behind her back, "Agent Cherest, mind telling her who she really is?"

"Bridgette Ramsey, age twenty, daughter of the late Arnold and Helga Ramsey, former student at Eastview High School, Minnesota before her parents died on an express highway in Montreal, also claiming twelve other victims, offered housing in an orphanage before suddenly disappearing off the map," the female agent holding her said, stunning the Decepticon with how much they knew about her. The agent in front of her looked mighty smug, "We then discovered that she had been coerced into joining the Decepticons, an alien faction bent on ruling our planet for over three years."

Bridgette's eyes widened from hearing about her past. Just how long and how deep have they been searching for her? Soundwave had made sure that any record of Bridgette or any other Stunticon on the internet was wiped clean. Whoever these agents were, they were informative, and that meant they were dangerous.

"Y'see Bridgette, it was only a matter of time before you found yourself back on Earth and off that warship that Megatron has, and so we knew that you had to be let out sooner or later to help your Decepticon buddies get one of those many relics buried in the Earth," he explained, and suddenly it began to dawn on Bridgette. Why there wasn't anyone in the base, why it was so easy to get inside and deep into the laboratory.

"It was a trap," she gasped, "you baited one of the relics to get me."

"Bravo! Get this kid an award for being a smart Decepticon!" The agent clapped mockingly, "You fell for it hook, line and sinker, Ramsey."

 _"WARNING!"_ An electronic voice rang out as klaxons began to blare red lights, _"CRYOGENIC SYSTEMS OFFLINE! PLEASE PROCEED TO YOUR NEAREST EMERGENCY EXIT!"_

"Now what?"

"Sir?" The other male agent spoke up, "She's triggered the defrost program. What should we do?"

"Well what we always do. Saddle up, boys and girls! Cuff 'er and take her with us upstairs before those monsters get loose, because in a couple minutes this place is gonna turn into one big hellhole." The agent said while turning around, and the other two agents whipped out a pair of cuffs.

"Hey! Where do you think you're putting that?!" Bridgette shrieked as she struggled against the grips of the two agents, flailing and kicking at them with every inch of her suppressed might, "Let go of me and get your hands of my chest you fucking pervert!"

"Hold still!" The female agent said, who couldn't keep her eyes off of Bridgette's bust, the familiar sting of breast envy creeping up.

"What, you jealous that someone half your age has boobs three times as big as yours? Go ogle someone else!" She smack-talked to Agent Cherest, who blushed with both anger and a little bit of humiliation. Bridgette then turned to the other agent who cuffed her, "You wanna do a cavity search while you're at it, huh?"

 _"WARNING! N.B.E. THREE THROUGH NINE CRYO-CONTAINMENT FAILING!"_

"C'mon people let's move!" And with that the two agents pushed Bridgette to get her moving through the laboratory and back up the elevator, and surprisingly enough when they went to head back on, the elevator doors opened at the end of the hallway to reveal Achilles in all of his psychotic glory. The moment he saw that Bridgette was in cuffs, he lowered his sword and placed it back on his spine. He strolled forward, and it appeared that he and the agents that apprehended her seemed to know each other, hinted by the smirk that Achilles was wearing as he walked in front of them and stopped with his hands on his hips.

"Hello again, Simmons. Nice seeing you down here," Achilles waved.

"We don't have time for chit-chat here, Achilles," the revealed Simmons replied.

 _So that's the asswipe's name, eh? Simmons._ Bridgette thought, drowning out their conversation and turned her head to peer into the laboratory and saw that the six cylinders that held whatever they had inside were slowly melting away around the glass. Bridgette could see that there were large figures inside, and each of them looked freakishly demonic, with the giant pairs of horns on the heads, or what appeared to be their heads. The one closest to her, the furthest on the right, suddenly had a pair of red eyes dimly glow through the icy glass prison, locking on to her's. Bridgette couldn't say anything as those burning embers stared into her, like it was gazing into her very soul.

And that was as much as she could get before Simmons ordered everyone into the elevator, leaving whatever lay inside the lab to awaken.

As the elevator doors closed, a clawed fist punched straight through the glass, and a deep, screaming roar rumbled the entire room...

...

"I could've taken her," Achilles said, eyeing the captured Bridgette who simply huffed in annoyance. He stood in front of her, arms across his chest as he spoke to the three agents and the Decepticon, and the agents seemed to also be a little annoyed with Achilles's attitude. Not that she blamed them. He didn't seem like the most friendly of people to hang around.

"Yeah, right," Bridgette muttered under her breath, and felt the tip of his sword push her chin up to face him.

"You mind sayin' that to my face, 'Con? The only reason you're alive right now is because of those three pencilnecks got to you before me," Achilles snarled, his temper flaring, but Bridgette showed not an ounce of fear, and instead turned her eyes towards Agent Simmons.

"You're just gonna let this happen?"

"And what, defend a human traitor? Psh, yeah, when pigs fly," he said with a chuckle, and Bridgette softly growled, annoyed that her hands were behind her back and not on Simmon's face.

Their long, slow journey back to the surface was suddenly rocked by the elevator shaking, the lights flickering on and off for a brief moment. Everyone inside was startled by what happened, but not Simmons, who simply stared up as if he knew something was coming. And then they could hear it, loud clanging from beneath them, sounding almost like a marching band traveling right up towards them. It was getting louder, and Achilles and the other agents were starting to get worried.

"They're free," Simmons mumbled.

"Who is? Who's free?" Bridgette asked, "Were those Decepticons down there?"

Finally they arrived back up on the surface, and with a hurry the agents and Achilles pushed her out and back into the empty office building, probably trying to put as much distance as they could between them and whatever was down there that Bridgette accidentally freed. Whoever or whatever they were, they seemed to have spooked the agents. Bridgette was roughly grabbed when she tried to look behind and see what was going on back there, but all she saw was the elevator being shoved upwards like someone opening a manhole, revealing a dark gray hand. Something was crawling up the elevator. It must have been the six things inside the cylinders.

When they got out of the office building and back on the streets, Bridgette saw that the entire complex was torn apart. Buildings were crushed and ablaze, meaning that Motormaster and Roadraider had been fighting for quite some time against Optimus and Scorn. Craters and blast marks scoured the area. The early sun was blocked out by smoke and flame. Meanwhile, she could see Roadraider in the distance hurling chunks of debris at someone else, most likely Optimus. Motormaster and Scorn were nowhere to be seen.

"C'mon people, let's get a move on!" Simmons said, urging them all into a black SUV parked behind an abandoned barrack. Bridgette was slouched in between the two agents in the back, Achilles in the side and Simmons driving the truck.

Bridgette really wished that Motormaster was around right now.

...

Speaking of Motormaster, he was a little busy dealing with a certain Dinobot to come to Bridgette's rescue. Scorn was more than enough Autobot to take on the Stunticon commander, who found himself almost entirely on the defensive. Scorn was just bigger and stronger than him, though he'd never admit it. The Scrapmaker sword was just such a powerful tool in Scorn's hands. His own thundersword had scored a couple hits on the Dinobot, but if it had hurt him he didn't express any sort of pain. Motormaster himself was getting heated up, his cooling fans working overtime to combat his own internals and the fires surrounding him.

Never was a wise idea to start electrical fires in an abandoned base.

"Why don't you just die, Decepticon!" Scorn yelled and swung his sword, this time taking out the building that Motormaster was standing next to when the Stunticon jumped aside to avoid being cut in half. "You're not gonna win this fight!"

"I don't have to win," Motormaster responded, smirking at the Dinobot, "I just have to bide my time."

"So what? So that little bitch traitor gets the relic first? Sorry Motormaster, but she's not gonna make it there," Scorn said back, flexing his body while Motormaster's optics grew wider, "We're done having to deal with the Stuntikids, and thanks to a little trap you can kiss Bridgette goodbye."

Before Motormaster could respond, and either of them could go back to trying to kill each other, the office building that Bridgette fled into suddenly exploded in a shower of fire and glass. The two of them turned their heads to see something emerge from the smoldering wreckage; six demonic-looking creatures that strikingly resembled Cybertronians. They were big, each colored a dark steel, nothing else, and with burning red optics that scanned the area, as if they were looking for something. Their bodies, as strange as they came, had no indication of any alternative modes, and they carried weapons, halberds and axes and spears. On each of their heads lay a huge pair of horns, their most distinctive feature.

"What the hell?" Motormaster mumbled as the six monsters spread out, with one of them pointing right at a black SUV that was gunning for the exit. They took off, running as fast as they could towards the vehicle. Motormaster wondered what the hell could be in that van, and Scorn's words came back to him. _Thanks to a little trap..._

They must have Bridgette!

...

"You mind telling me a couple things, here? First off, how the hell do you know each other? Second, what the heck were in those cylinders?" Bridgette asked, tired of sitting in the dark and in complete silence. Achilles burst out laughing while Simmons simply glared at him.

"Hey Dinopunk, shut it. As for one, you'd think orphans raised by aliens would be an interesting thing for Sector Seven. Turns out the big guy, Optimus, he didn't like the sound of us recruiting Grimlock's little gang so we had to keep our distance, but we've meet before." Simmons said, giving Bridgette some of the details.

"Yeah, you've meet us before," Achilles snickered, "and on totally great terms, right Simmons?"

"Agent Mayweather, you mind putting a reminder for me to have a talk with Agent Fowler? So that I can put in a word to have these punks put in a boarding school somewhere in the middle of the Netherlands?" Simmons said to the male agent sitting to the left of Bridgette, who was tapping on a smart phone.

"Sure thing,"

"And as for the secret down there Bridgette," Simmons began, "You think that Megatron and her goons were the first to arrive on Earth? That the Autobots just came here under United States supervision from FDR? No, no. They've been here since forever, the dawn of mankind, even further. Stone Age, Iron Age, the Black Plague, you name it the Transformers have had their say in it. Sector Seven kept them a secret from the world but now that secret's being threatened to spill out, just like KSI did some months ago with their newest science project." Bridgette had to bite her tongue to keep from talking about their adventure involving KSI. It was something that she and the rest of the Stuntikids, primarily Ethan, would rather ignore.

"And those things in the tubes, what are they? Science experiments?"

"Nope. Sector Seven discovered in the Arctic Circle, buried there since the time of the dinosaurs," Simmons replied.

"Huh," Bridgette said, looking back, "you wouldn't mean those six things chasing us now, right?"

Simmons paused to stare into the rear view mirror.

"What?"

A large foot planted itself right in front of the truck, and Simmons couldn't stop the vehicle in time before it slammed right into it, crushing the front bumper. Bridgette let out a yelp, and Agent Cherest whacked her face on the chair in front of her. And then a pair of hands pierced through the roof and tore it off, and the five inside suddenly felt very small as they saw six pairs of optics bore down on them. Whatever the formerly frozen Transformers were, they seemed to want something. The one that stopped them reached down and plucked Bridgette from the car, pinching the back of her jacket. Simmons stood up and pointed a finger at the rescuing robot.

"HEY! That woman is under arrest! Put her down!" He yelled at them, but they didn't respond. Achilles, being slightly less stupid, pulled him down to his seat.

"You idiot, you want them to stomp on us?" He hissed at him.

"Bridgette!" Another voice, one that was familiar to the female Decepticon's ear, rang out. She turned and looked to see Motormaster running as fast as he could to the crowd. He spotted Bridgette being held in the palm of one of the strange Transformer's grip, and they too saw that the Stunticon was coming ever closer. Before he could try and get to her, two of them stood in front of him and blocked him off, using their halberds and spears as bars to stop the Stunticon from coming closer. Everyone watched the whole thing with shocked eyes and optics.

They were _defending_ Bridgette?

"Wait!" The six turned to hear Bridgette speak, "He's my guardian. Please, he won't hurt me." Bridgette talked smoothly, trying not to escalate anything from getting too out of hand. From what she'd seen, these things were practically feral. Thankfully, they put her down and yanked off her cuffs before she could walk away. The two Transformers in front of Motormaster parted and allowed the guardian to collect his charge.

"Thank Primus you're okay," he said, holding her in his hand like a cherished item, and then turned his gaze to the truck, where the agents and the Dinobrat were still sitting, "and you four better count your lucky fraggin' stars, because the only thing keeping me from killing you all is getting the relic."

"Um, 'Mos?" Bridgette spoke up, "Those six Transformers? They're the relics. Turns out it was an elaborate scheme to try and get me captured."

"Was it really?" Motormaster said, and gave Agent Simmons a vengeful death-glare that promised nothing but sweet, sweet pain. The agent did nothing but swallow in fear and tried not to look afraid.

 ** _"She... freed... us..."_** The voice was so sudden and so deep that Motormaster nearly jumped, simply because he hadn't expected to hear the Transformer closest to him start talking out of the blue. Both Bridgette and Motormaster looked at the spear-wielding Transformer, who was staring down at Bridgette with intensity. Normal talking seemed to be very uncomfortable for them, nonetheless talking in clear English. Their deathly sounding voices felt unused, **_"We... were... lost... in... the... ice... for... so... long..."_**

 ** _"She... freed... us..."_** the one on their left said, **_"Now... we... free... her..."_**

"Who... are you?" Bridgette asked, and Motormaster readied his thundersword in case anything went wrong.

 ** _"We... are... Infernocons..."_** One by one, the six aptly-named Infernocons began to run _at_ each other, and it was only the sounds of clanging metal and shifting alien plates did anyone realize that they were _combining._ Their combined form reached higher, and higher, and even higher. It must have been bigger than any other Transformer that any of the humans had seen. Simmons and his agents were taking photos while Achilles was trying to get Scorn's attention with his phone. Finally, the combination ended and what was revealed was a behemoth, freakish gestalt, with a pair of monstrous horns and gigantic cannons on both arms that reached right down to its knees. The mandibles in the mouth flexed like spider limbs limbs, and what appeared to be a face of something engraved on the chest of the combiner.

And then it spoke.

 ** _"WE ARE INFERNOCUS."_**

 ** _"WE HEED THE CALL OF QUINTESSA."_**

 ** _"AND OUR DEED IS DONE."_**

The gigantic Infernocus turned around and walked off, leaving Decepticon, Autobot and Sector Seven agent dumbfounded by what it just said. As Infernocus strolled out of the compound and into the woodland hills, Motormaster couldn't shake the feeling that he wouldn't be seeing the last of him.

"Alright," Motormaster said, "let's go home."

"Home," Bridgette said, remembering what the agents told her, "what a wonderful word."

* * *

- _the Nemesis-_

"So, this Infernocus was the relic?" Megatron asked the three in front of her throne room, Shockwave standing by her side while Turmoil conversed with Starscream. The Decepticons found themselves down another relic, but the reason behind it was very convincing to Megatron's audio receptors. To hear that Bridgette had rescued an ancient combining team called the Infernocons, rather than retrieve a relic, was quite entrancing.

Getting back to the warship wasn't a problem for the three Decepticons. After Infernocus decided to hike it to the middle of nowhere, the Autobots cut their nonexistent losses and left the burned compound. The newly revealed Sector Seven was just another tally to the thorns on Megatron's silver side, more humans that wanted a piece of Decepticon tech that just went by another name.

"There wasn't a relic to begin with, my Lady," Motormaster answered, "Turns out it was just an elaborate trap to try and capture Bridgette, probably to interrogate and force her back into human society. Infernocus just happened to be there."

"And was there a reason that you didn't try to recruit the Infernocons?" Megatron asked, trying to find a silver lining to all of this. So far, no new relics and just more problems for them all to deal with. "Their name seems aptly fitting for the Decepticons and we could always use more troops."

"About that, my Lady," Roadraider said, "After they rescued Bridgette from Sector Seven, Infernocus said that he _"h_ _eeded the call of Quintessa"_ and that his deed was done. Now I don't have the slightest clue about what that means, so I would try to find something about what Infernocus meant. Perhaps a run-down of our ship's databanks, or possibly asking Sprawl since he knows quite a lot about our lost histories."

Megatron pressed a thumb to her chin, thinking about what she'd just heard from Roadraider. Could Infernocus, wherever he may be, take his orders from another? And that after Bridgette rescued him, he stalked out and began to await whoever or whatever this _Quintessa_ might be? Perhaps it might have been for the better if they let the ancient combiner go, possibly avoiding a breach in the warship if the Infernocons decide to listen to who their real master might be. Megatron knew that if Motormaster couldn't contain Infernocus, then neither could the Autobots, so there was that.

"My Lady!" The doors to the throne room opened to reveal a panicking Drag Strip.

"Drag Strip, what the hell are you doing?" Motormaster asked, startled by his second's attitude. Drag Strip's red optics were wide as can be.

"No time to explain! You have to see this," Drag Strip rushed over to a nearby terminal and pressed a few buttons, which turned on the massive screen on the front wall above the door. The Decepticons saw that it was a local human news network, with the caption telling everything that they needed to know.

 _GIANT SHIPS ATTACK CHICAGO!_

"...the situation has become harder to contain as more of these silver ships continue to enter Chicago, apparently intent on destroying the city. Civilians are being ordered to evacuate or stay indoors. President Trump has ordered the army and the air force to defend the city from the invaders, more news coming as live as the situation progresses..."

On screen, they could see a massive, corkscrew-like starcraft dropping objects, most likely bombs, into the city below. They could see the camera pan across the sky to reveal two more of these strange craft beginning to close in on Chicago.

The Decepticons inside watched with varying reactions, but none so than their master. Megatron stood up and began to walk out, Soundwave and Shockwave close behind.

"My Lady?" Motormaster asked, "What should we do?"

Megatron stopped, and looked back at the Stunticon, raw fury in her optics.

"Prepare the _Nemesis_ for battle. We're going to Chicago!"

* * *

 **Aw yiss fam, another battle! Here come the Quintessons!**


	9. No Promise Kept

**Been a while, eh?**

* * *

 _-Chicago-_

 _"All units, prepare for combat! Civilians please proceed to your nearest crash bunker, this is not a drill!"_ Across KSI Headquarters, klaxons rang their alarms as both man and machine ran to their posts. Workers found themselves being rushed towards anywhere that they could hide from the attacking invaders. Meanwhile, Joshua Joyce and Darcy Tirrel were escorted outside their showcase garage to an armored limousine, Stinger close by. The KSI femme-bot was watching the skies, her pincer cannon primed and ready for anything that might show up.

"Master Joyce, this way!" Stinger pointed to where the limo was waiting.

"Listen Darcy, I don't want to hear _I told you so,_ but I'm actually starting to regret dabbling in alien shit." Joyce said as he entered the limo.

"Get in." Darcy responded, sitting in the front seat, but before Joshua left he rolled down the window to talk to his loyal bodyguard.

"Stinger, hey girl! Listen, get to the city and find Chief Delmer for me, would you? Take as many of the Traxes as you need. Make sure she's safe!"

"You got it, Master Joyce!" Stinger transformed and took off, no doubt ordering some of her personal soldiers to come along with her.

"Alright, let's move, people!" Joshua ordered as the limo drove off.

Darcy looked through the window and saw the pair of massive silver ships that hovered over the Chicago skyline. They were hideously misshapen, their corkscrew designs looking so contrary to the angular buildings below them, where they were dropping things on the city streets. She didn't know if they were bombs or invasion pods, but either way it wasn't good.

Even inside the limo they could hear the screams and sirens coming from the inner city. Horrific couldn't even describe it. She'd never imagine that the Decepticons would come back with such a vengeance. Was that kid that special to them that they had to send in an entire alien battalion on their city as revenge? Darcy felt fear creep up her spine. This otherworldly force had struck without mercy, and now there were innocents paying the price. She could only hope that the Interceptors and the CPD could hold them off for the army to get here and drive them out.

"Where's your government friend?" Darcy found herself asking. If Attinger was so intent on having an automated army, then it would be smart to think that he would stick around to see Stinger, the Traxes and the Interceptors do their job and protect Chicago. So far, no sign of the man. Either he was still in Washington, or Joyce didn't like having him around.

"No, he's not my friend. Associates, Darcy. Much different. No emotional ties."

"Yeah? Wasn't he the one harping on about how he wanted to see KSI kill evil old Decepticons for god and country and all that?"

"Hang on one second Darcy." Joyce pulled out his phone and tapped the screen for speakerphone. "Hello?"

 _"Master Joyce, it's Stinger! I just got to the CPD and things are looking grim around here!"_ She didn't sound so good. _"I don't know what these things are, but they're everywhere! We're holding them off as best as we can but we don't have the firepower to stop them all! They just keep coming!"_

"Just hold off the Decepticons as long as you can, Stinger. The army will be here soon." Joyce tried to make himself sound convincing, but it was hard. If he had known that downtown Chicago was going to be that bad, he wouldn't have sent Stinger. Despite him being known across the world as a no-nonsense, somewhat egotistical CEO, he was still human. He had grown to appreciate Stinger, even respect her. Her loyalty had won her Joyce's attention and losing her would not only be a blow to the company, it would be a blow to him.

 _"That's the thing, Master Joyce! These aren't Decepticons!"_ Stinger replied, and the two in the limo sat there stunned. _"I haven't seen a single purple insignia on these things since I got here! And they bleed GREEN, and it's not energon! They're fleshy on the inside, like a human but made of metal! I-It's like they're some sort of hybrid!"_

"Stinger, calm down and tell us what they look like." Darcy said to the femme.

 _"Short, ugly, big mouths with bigger teeth,"_ Stinger listed a few features, _"I'm telling you guys, these things aren't right. I don't even know why they're attacking us in our city! It doesn't make any sense! Why here? Why Chicago? They're not even trying to kill us, they're just shooting and destroying anything that they see that doesn't look like them!"_

"Where's Chief Delmer? Is she okay?" Joyce asked.

 _"She's fine. She got holed up in her office with a couple desk jockeys. Whatever these things are tried to get the drop on the CPD, literally. Some of them didn't make it."_ Stinger somberly said. Joshua let out a huff of angst while Darcy gasped at the news. _"The Interceptors aren't faring much better. Two of them are down for the count and the officers can't exactly hurt these things. Me and the other Traxes are fighting as hard as we can but at this rate it'll be a bloodbath soon. We don't have the means to fight this kind of army!"_

"Stinger, the army will be there soon. Just hold on as long as you can and you'll get the help that you need."

 _"I'll try my best, Master Joyce!"_ Stinger hung up, and Joyce nearly succumbed to the urge of throwing his phone across the limo's interior. He honestly felt like he'd just sent Stinger to her death. No matter how advanced she was, Stinger was still only one robot, and against the hordes of monsters falling from the sky it was only a matter of when rather than if she would get completely overrun. Joyce pocketed his phone and looked back at the Chicago skyline, pressing his hand on his mouth in thought. Darcy was watching as well, praying that Stinger would make it out alright. The KSI femme-bot had certainly made an impression on Darcy, and losing her would mean the loss of a valuable asset and friend.

"Um, Joyce?" The driver said, "Is that one of their's as well?"

"Oh, what now?" Joshua bitterly mumbled to himself to look up through the sun roof and saw a large black ship flying through the air. Unlike the current invaders, this ship was angular and had broad, sharp wings. A series of red-tinted windows were at the front of the ship. As it soared over them while shaking the earth below, the three of them saw what appeared to be missiles and balls of plasma shoot out from the new ship at the silver ones, pocketing them with explosions. The invaders returned in kind with their own bombardment, which included green, glowing lines of light that impacted the ship's hull.

"What the hell is going on?"

...

"All Decepticons, mobilize! Destroy them at all costs!" Megatron roared into the intercom, scrambling all of her troops for combat. The warlord seethed at the sight of these hideous ships in front of her. They would all be destroyed, sent back to where they came from. Nobody took anything from Megatron's ironclad grasp while she still functioned. She cared not for the city below. The humans down there could perish in the ensuring battle and not give Megatron an iota of guilt. They were simply in the way. It was the manner of absolute heavy war.

The warlord turned to see her Warrior Elite glaring out at the same ships as she was. His fists were balled so tightly she could hear his finger joints beginning to squeeze under the pressure. The optic visor he worse also seemed to be _glowing._

"Who are they?" She asked. It was obvious that he knew what they were.

"The _Quintessons..._ " Megatron felt her optics grow in size. Everyone else in the bridge were stunned by the news. The Quintessons were little more than a myth for Cybertronians, an unseen boogeyman used to scare sparklings in bedtime stories. To hear that they were actually real was frightening. What Megatron didn't understand was how Sprawl himself was reacting towards them. In all her years, she'd never heard Sprawl speak with so much _hatred_ in his voice. Coming from someone who was normally quite placid, it was very unsettling.

"That's impossible," Starscream said, "The Quintessons are nothing more than myth and superstition."

"I assure you Starscream, they are very real. Vile, _disgusting_ techno-organic abominations," He continued on, "They are harbingers of death, existing to oppress all life in the galaxy. I fought them alongside Galvatron and his troops millennia ago when they sought to exterminate our kind from the surface of the cosmos. Megatron, if I may ask, have all Decepticon fighters focus on one of their ships."

"Er, Sprawl? In case you can't see it, they have _two_." Snare, ever the observant one, said.

"Exactly." Sprawl said, eyeing the one ship to their right. "That one is _mine._ And mine alone."

"You're not considering taking on something that fragging big, right?"

" _Watch me._ I've killed bigger," And with that, Sprawl turned around and headed for the hangar. As he made his way to the back of the ship, Sprawl noticed that the Stunticons were also getting ready for battle. The Stuntikids were also there as well, standing beside their guardians as they armed themselves. It was then Sprawl got an idea. The Stuntikids had proven themselves that they were brave and loyal to the Decepticons, and some of them were admirable soldiers as well. He knew that they wouldn't dare put them in harm's way intentionally but with a little convincing...

"Motormaster." Said Stunticon commander turned his head away from shining his thundersword to see the Warrior Elite talking to him, "Mind if I ask you something before we head out?"

"Sure."

"Are the Stuntikids able to battle?" Sprawl asked. The Stunticons in general seemed to balk at Sprawl's question. Motormaster himself took a second to register what he had said before he responded.

"What the frag does that mean?"

"It means that I'd like the Stuntikids to come with me to fight the Quintessons. I have more than enough gun turrets and other weaponry for them to utilize for maximum carnage. Of course, I don't have any flight suits on me so they'll have to wear what they've got for such high altitudes-"

"Woah, woah hang on a fraggin' second!" Motormaster shouted. Sprawl stopped his rambling. "You must be out of your _processor_ to think we're just gonna let you take them to fight a whole army!"

"Not an army," Sprawl said, "just their ship."

"Just their _ship?!_ You mean the big-ass silver thing that's currently flying over Chicago right now? That's what you want to fight?" Drag Strip said.

"Yes."

"Then forget it! The Stuntikids are _not_ going with you!" Drag Strip slammed his finger at Sprawl's lower sternum, which was about as high as he could reach on him.

"Why not?" Sprawl asked, and he swore he saw Wildrider's purple optics grow twice their size. "It'll be a, _what's the term for it_ , a fun learning experience to kill Quintessons inside a Warrior Elite."

"No way in hell am I letting you take them!" Wildrider knelt down and plucked the five of them off the ground, keeping them safely secured in her arms. "They're not just some _things_ to use whenever the hell you want them, Sprawl! I still haven't forgiven you for letting Ethan jump off a cliff!"

"They're also _soldiers_ in the name of Megatron, and since I'm of higher rank than them, I _can_ in fact take the Stuntikids whenever the hell I want them." Sprawl said, looming over the Stunticons while clutching a fist in front of Motormaster, who looked like he was mere moments away from ripping off Sprawl's head. "You said it yourself Motormaster, they're more than capable of handling themselves. Why not let them prove themselves in the field of battle?"

"Don't _we_ get a say in this?" Bridgette said, getting everyone's attention. Having a bunch of Decepticons argue about them as if they weren't there really got her burning up, especially since they were their guardians. "Put us down, 'Rider. Let's talk this out before we start shooting each other."

Wildrider let out a huff and sent a glare at Sprawl before setting the Stuntikids back down.

"Right, look," Bridgette began, "Sprawl, I get it that you don't like the Quintessons that much-"

"A vast understatement."

" _Let me FINISH._ " She snarled at him, "And they probably don't like you very much given your immense history, but that doesn't mean you can just grab whoever you can to throw at them. We're not like you. You're practically invincible. We're five humans, five young, _fragile_ humans who wouldn't stand a chance against something of that size." Bridgette said to him, explaining this in both an empathetic and logical way. While Sprawl could more than likely take on the Quintesson threat and come out on top, the same couldn't be said for the humans that he wanted to take with him.

Sprawl seemed to register her words, and the Warrior Elite seemed a little shameful that he tried to pull rank so that he could have some extra firepower. "I see. Forgive me, I was zealous in my haste to fight the Quintessons."

"But that doesn't mean I said no."

Sprawl's head shot up, and the rest of the Stunticons were startled with what Bridgette said.

"If you're going out there, then I'm in." Bridgette took a step forward. It wasn't her bravado doing the talking for her. She was going to fight for her world and send these invaders straight to hell. That and fighting in something like Sprawl actually sounded kind of fun.

"Me too." Holly added, standing behind her leader.

"We're in. We go together." Samantha said, Ethan right next to her.

And Zoey stood idly by, everyone's eyes and optics on her. The young girl was fiddling with her scarf, her blushing face hidden but everyone knew that she was reluctant to say anything, her shyness overwhelming her thoughts.

"Zoey?" Dead End said, getting down on one knee to try and coax her to say something.

"I think," Zoey said, "I think I want to go too."

"Zoey, think about this." Dead End pleaded with a tone of voice that most of the Decepticons around him had never heard. It was unsettling to hear him with this type of emotion. "You don't know what's out there. This isn't going out to find a relic somewhere on Earth, this is a full-scale battle. I might be fine with meeting my maker whenever that happens but I'm not letting you do this." Dead End finished, startling those who were watching. If there wasn't a battle to be won outside, they would have probably considered this the most they had seen out of Dead End in many, many years.

"I'm sorry Dead End, but I want to go." Zoey stared up at her guardian. "I want to fight them because now I'm going to protect _us_. And, well, if Bridgette says that she's going, then I'm with her."

"Zoey..." Dead End whispered, reaching over to gently touch his charge's hand, "You better promise me. Promise me that you'll try your damnest to stay alive out there. I mean it."

"I promise, or actually, you better make sure Sprawl doesn't do anything really reckless." Zoey said, bringing the attention back to the Warrior Elite. The rest of the Stunticons followed Dead End's glare, which was all they needed to do to make sure that their message was clear. Sprawl acknowledged this, and prepared his oath, which he had given many times before to other, younger Decepticons.

"I swear on my spark that I will not endanger your kids more than I have asked." Sprawl said, bringing one of his hands over his chest. "Nor shall I abandon them, even at the cost of my own life, I shall protect them until my dying breath as a true Decepticon. This I promise, Motormaster." He said to the sixteen-wheeler. It was clear that Sprawl wasn't going to take any chances given the situation. If he was going out there with the Stuntikids then he was going to protect them until his last dying breath.

"Very well, but you better hold up to your promise." Motormaster said, the rest of the Stunticons nodding as well.

"I will. Are you ready, Bridgette?" Sprawl said to the human commander.

"Yeah. Let's rock."

"Let's get to it." Sprawl responded, leaning down to pick up the five humans before walking away. Zoey peered over his thumb to look back at Dead End, nervously wondering if she had disappointed her guardian by not listening to him.

"Zoey? You okay?" Holly asked being the surrogate big sister.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, but her tone betrayed her.

"You're worried you made the wrong decision," Sprawl had been listening in, "but fear not. It will not be the last time you see your guardians."

"Hey Sprawl, how do you know the Quintessons?" Bridgette asked. The large Decepticon looked down on the human in his hand as they passed by some other Decepticons getting ready. They noticed that Sprawl held the Stuntikids in his hands, and looked on with confusion. "I heard you talking to Megatron about them and I don't think I've ever heard you sound that angry before."

Sprawl didn't answer for a couple moments.

"The Quintessons and I have a... _very personal_ history."

"Really?" Holly wondered, listening in. "So, how personal are we talking about?"

"The Quintessons sought to enslave Cybertron to their whim just as they have done before to countless other worlds. They also forced me to watch them murder my creators out of nothing more than spite." Sprawl said, shocking the humans in his hands. "They're monstrous, they'll kill your planet just for sport. Believe me, they've done it before. I've seen the results. If we don't stop them here, the Decepticons will no longer have assured control over your planet, and then it's goodbye Earth."

"They killed your parents and made you watch?" Ethan said, horrified. The rest of the Stuntikids shared his empathy. "Oh Sprawl, I'm sorry that happened."

"Don't be. I've moved on and accepted it." Sprawl replied. He noticed that the Stuntikids, except for Zoey, weren't exactly buying what he said. Sprawl knew that they all suffered parental tragedy just as he had. Zoey could be considered lucky that her biological parents are still alive somewhere in Puerto Rico, but they all knew better than to try and find them. Bridgette seemed the most afflicted by what he said about watching his parental units die before him. Sprawl had read the reports on the Stuntikids when he'd returned from the Amazon. Very tragic stuff.

He realized that he and Bridgette shared a personal horror; they had both watched the deaths of loved ones. Whether it was from an accident or a murder, the Warrior Elite and the Stuntikid commander had a unwilling bond of hardship.

The six of them finally reached the hanger, just in time to see Starscream and his trine launch themselves to the sky, making a beeline for the left ship along with plenty of Eradicons. Sprawl graciously put the Stuntikids back on the ground before transforming into his mighty Cybertronian gunship form. The gateway on his port side opened and the five of them hopped right inside. There were three seats that they could clearly see the moment they entered, two of them being side gunners and the other leading up to another turret on Sprawl's roof.

"So, which one of you wishes to have the front gunner seat?" Sprawl spoke through the speakers above them. "I'll be flying, so someone gets to have the rotary turret to themselves."

"I'll have it, might as well." Bridgette shrugged and made her way to the cockpit. It was large and had room, with the pilot's seat right in front of her. Down a small staircase lay the gunner's seat, complete with a large cannon facing forward. The seat was surrounded by screens, with a pair of handles situated on a large console. As she neared the seat, it moved on it's own and positioned itself for her to sit down. The Stuntikid commander took it in stride and sat down, and put her arms up in the air when she felt the seat belts coil around her waist, shoulders, and chest. A flash of light in front of her face gave her a crystal cyan holoscreen to look at.

"Woah, now that's cool." Bridgette rolled the straps around her body, "Is this necessary?" She asked.

"For your safety it is. I tend to fly quite erratically when I'm fighting," Sprawl said, and then spoke again. "Have you ever considered surgery, girl? Surely those things on your chest are far too big to be comfortable." Bridgette looked down and noticed that the straps on her chest were straining against her massive bosom.

"First off, no. Second off, they're perfectly fine the way they are," Bridgette said, "And they're not _things,_ Sprawl. They're breasts. Every girl has them."

"Are you sure? I'm no expert on human anatomy but your scout seems to be _lacking_ in that area."

"I HEARD THAT!" Samantha screeched from her gun turret. Holly and Ethan were laughing.

"Alright, enough talking about boobs. How do I use this thing?" Bridgette said, giving the holoscreen projector a light slap.

"The targeting system of the frontal turret will highlight any enemy combatant within looking distance. Your control allows you to switch weaponry and adjust the turret's positioning for maximum coverage. I shall also remind you that the holoscreen you're using is hooked up to your sensory vision and movement, which means wherever you look, the turret looks as well. Your armaments include a primary focused energy cannon along with mass-accelerated explosive rounds and cold-burst rocket pods." Sprawl explained, allowing Bridgette and the others to get a feel of what kind of carnage they're going to be throwing at the Quintessons. Bridgette had never really used this sort of heavy weaponry before, and she had been living with the Stunticons for three years, which was saying something.

"Hey Sprawl, have you ever heard of something called _overkill?_ " Holly asked.

"Funny you should say that, Holly. You're sitting in the support cannon, which is armed with four ultra-heavy railcannons, perfect for killing large targets. Samantha and Ethan, your side turrets have tracer cannons and flash-pulse wave beams." Sprawl said.

"O-Oh, um, I guess that's cool?" Samantha wondered out loud, feeling a little overwhelmed with what they had at their disposal. Ethan kept quiet but had a large grin on his face, same with Holly. These guns were going to be a lot of fun.

"Zoey, what are you doing?" Ethan asked, who noticed that Zoey wasn't sitting at any sort of turret, but rather took her position at the communications hub.

"I'm staying here so that we don't lose contact with the _Nemesis_ while we're gone." Zoey explained, "Plus if we get into trouble I can get any of the other fliers like Starscream's trine to help us out. Having a plan B isn't a bad idea, right?"

"I like her." Sprawl said. "Now are you humans ready for flight?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Ready!"

"Sure."

"Let's kick some ass!"

Bridgette smiled, "Let's do this."

Sprawl's engines powered on, the triple-changer rising from the flight deck and into the open sky. Bridgette peered through the bulletproof windows in front of the cockpit to watch the _Nemesis_ get smaller and smaller beneath them. Sprawl suddenly launched forward as his large primary engines kicked in, the Stuntikids inside lurching backwards from the inertia. Bridgette felt her head being pressed on the back of her chair while Ethan and Samantha had to grab on the turret handles to keep from falling off their chairs.

"I should have reminded you to put on the seat-belts." Sprawl said from the roof speakers.

"Gee, ya think?" Samantha said, grabbing the chrome belts and locking them around her waist.

Sprawl's radio suddenly came alive.

 _"Sprawl! Thundercracker here. My scanners are picking up strange life signs in the city below. They're the things dropping down from the ships!"_

Sprawl knew what he was talking about.

"Thundercracker, contact Turmoil and tell him to get as many of the troops as we can on the ground. Those things are **_Sharkticons_**. They're lethal en masse. We have to destroy their ships or they won't stop spreading across the city and into the planet." Sprawl said. The rest of the Stuntikids were listening in to what Sprawl was saying. Zoey couldn't help but feel a little frightened by what the _Sharkticons_ were. Lethal en masse? That sounded scary.

"What're Sharkticons?" Bridgette asked.

"Foot soldiers for the Quintesson armies. Little more than slaves but make it up in numbers for rank." Sprawl explained to the Stuntikid commander. "Individually they're not very dangerous but their main strategy is to overwhelm with sheer numbers. There can be _thousands_ of them at once, attacking from every angle, which is why the best counterattack is to cut them off from replenishing their numbers."

"Kill the source," Ethan said, "So that's what we're doing?"

"Yes."

"Sprawl, we're getting closer. Should we be shooting now?" Holly asked.

"Not yet. Brace yourselves, this is going to get a little hot." Sprawl said as the Quintesson starship opened fire at them. Sprawl evaded their shots as quickly as he could. The sky surrounding him was pocketed with bursts of green plasma from the many cannons on the alien ship, He had to make sure that his assault would be at a weaker part of the ship, and to get out of sight from the guns shooting at them.

"Jesus! What the hell is going on?!" Ethan hollered.

"We're getting shot at, that's what!" Samantha said back, "Sprawl, are we gonna shoot them or are we just gonna fly around and annoy them to death?"

"Just hold on, I know what I'm doing."

"I don't wanna die!" Zoey screamed, holding on to the communications console for dear life.

Sprawl leered to the right and dived down, going below the ship's line of sight and finally evading the anti-air guns. Sprawl kept on flying and veered up towards the sky, keeping himself close to the ship as he flew higher up. The Stuntikids inside were feeling the g-forces pulling on their faces as Sprawl continued his aerial performance. Bridgette felt bile rise up to her throat. She heard a gurgle from behind her, and turned her head to see Zoey trying to hold down her lunch.

Finally, the Warrior Elite stopped mid-air and then nose-dived straight down, right above the Quintesson starship. The holoscreen in front of Bridgette painted her target in cyan light, showing her where to fire.

"Alright, now you can shoot." And they did. The moment Bridgette squeezed the trigger, she was nearly blinded by two things; the bright glare of the turret's mouth vomiting a hellstorm of plasma, and the cannonfire that the other guns Sprawl carried on him had. And it was so _loud._ The front turret was screaming away as it fired the deadly blue streams of superheated plasma. It wasn't alone. Rotary cannons and missiles either from Sprawl's control or from the other Stuntikids all thrown at the Quintesson starship, and the five of them saw the results. The entire front of the ship was now coated with _fire._ They could see the wreckage heaving off the ship in huge chunks of burning metal.

" _Yeehaw!_ Now that was awesome!" Samantha stuck a fist in the air.

"These alien guns kick ass!" Ethan yelled.

"We've got incoming!" Zoey said, noticing a trio of blips on radar. "They're coming after us!"

"Are they stupid? Didn't they just see how we totally _demolished_ them?" Holly said.

"It's not over yet, girl. I'll deal with the fighters. You concentrate on the ship." Sprawl said. A pair of anti-air guns sprung from above Sprawl's engines and fired, shredding two of the fighters and sending the other careening into the lake.

"Nice shot." Ethan said, who was watching the whole thing. The Stuntikids couldn't help but wonder where their guardians were.

If they were looking closely they would have seen a large hatch open on the side of ship, which released several dozen more fighters straight at them...

* * *

 _-Chicago streets-_

"Primus, they just keep coming!" Drag Strip fired at the Sharkticon horde in front of him. His gravito-gun was working wonders against their numbers. The rest of the Stunticons were right beside him. Wildrider and Dead End were shooting up a storm while Breakdown and Motormaster went down and dirty on the Sharkticons, whether it be from a crushing blow from a hammer or a mighty swing of a sword.

The five of them suddenly looked up to see Sprawl whoosh above them, and the burning yet still living Quintesson starship. The other one was being dealt with by the other fliers. From the looks of things, Sprawl and the Stuntikids were tearing that ship apart, seemingly unstoppable.

"At least they're having fun!" Wildrider whined. A Sharkticon got too close for comfort and found it's face smashed in with her spiked knuckle-dusters. "Think they got the better end by staying in the air?"

"How about we kick things up a notch? You thinking what I'm thinking, sir?" Breakdown said to Motormaster.

"You're right. Stunticons, _COMBINE!_ "

The nearby Sharkticons watched as the five Stunticons merged together, two forming the legs, another two forming the arms, and the finally coming together as one massive robot with the huge gray chest. The head, complete with a pair of gigantic horns, grinned down at the stunned invaders. A massive crystal blue sword materialized in its right hand as it gave a thunderous roar.

 **"MENASOR DESTROY INVADERS!"**

With a powerful swing of the great thundersword, Menasor cleaved the front rows of the Sharkticons clean in half. The rest of them either didn't register or didn't care that their comrades had been sliced up and charged the combiner anyway. They meet the same fate as their fellow Sharkticons as Menasor swung his sword again and again and _again,_ fighting against the endless tide of monsters. A sudden jolt of pain on his shoulder had Menasor realize that a smaller group was coming from behind, and one of them had chomped on him. The combiner reached over and crushed the annoying pest in his hand before turning around to deal with the next group.

Until a hail of blaster fire knocked the Sharkticons back. Menasor heard the bauble of a ground-bridge opening up, and since most of the Decepticon fighters were in the air, Menasor knew that there was only one other answer.

The combiner saw Optimus Prime and his Autobots exit the ground-bridge armed and ready. What they probably weren't expecting was to see a Decepticon combiner drenched in the fluids of these new invaders, along with piles of wrecked corpses at his feet. While most of the Autobots turned their weapons at Menasor, Optimus didn't. The Prime spoke no words, but Menasor got the feeling that he wasn't his target.

 **"YOU TOOK YOUR TIME."** Menasor said, smirking at the Autobots.

Grimlock gave a low growl. If he had anything to say to the combiner, he didn't get the chance.

"Bulkhead, take the Wreckers and make sure the Sharkticons don't leave the city! Grimlock, Dinobots, neutralize their landing zone," Optimus commanded, "Prowl, Arcee, everyone else, you're with me."

"Um, aren't we forgetting something?" Scorn asked, pointing a thumb at the Decepticon. The Autobots looked back on the combiner, who was still standing there. If Optimus was afraid, he didn't show it at all. Instead he opted for a better way to deal with Menasor.

"I believe Menasor has more important business to take care of than fight us," Optimus said, "There are still Sharkticons roaming the city."

 **"DAMN STRAIGHT _OH-PEE_." ** Menasor said, showing off his sharpened denta at the Prime. The Autobots rolled out to bring their own fight to the Sharkticons. Grimlock gave one last glare at Menasor before transforming into his _T. Rex_ form and stomping off, the rest of the Dinobots following him. The combiner walked off to go find and kill more Sharkticons, his footsteps shaking the ground as he stomped away. As he did, the Stunticons were having a discussion through their combiner bond.

 _"Should we have just left them there? That was Optimus Prime, after all."_

 _"Not now, Dead End. As much as I hate to admit it, the Prime's right. We'll deal with him at another point in time."_

 _"Sick! It's back to killing more Sharkticons! Woo!"_

A sudden crack of a thunderous boom drew Menasor's attention to the skies. The combiner witnessed the second Quintesson ship, which was now thoroughly wrecked from the amount of damage that Sprawl had inflicted on it, slowly dip down and fall from the skies. The ship was falling apart at the seams with large burning chunks plummeting from its hull and into the streets and skyline. The engines flickered and died as the ship started to nosedive into the Chicago river, and in a single moment the ship tore itself in two, both halves crashing into the waters below. With only one ship left, the invaders had now lost their advantage with the playing field evened out.

 _"That was pretty damn fast, holy slag."_

 _"Should we focus on getting to the other ship, sir?"_

 _"Forget about the ship, Sprawl's got a new target. He'll deal with it."_

 _"It's also our charge's ship too, sir."_

 _"Think Sprawl's living up to his promise?"_

 _"He sure better damn well be doing it, or I'm gonna-"_

As if by cosmic coincidence, the sound of a screaming engine once again caught Menasor's audio receptors. Looking down the abandoned Chicago street, he saw none other than Sprawl whizzing down in between the buildings. What _really_ caught the combiner's attention was that one of Sprawl's rear engines was leaking bright blue fire, and he seemed to get closer and closer to the ground as he neared the distance between him and Menasor. The combiner acted on instinct as Sprawl neared them, with a quick drop of his sword Menasor caught the wounded Warrior Elite in his large hands. Sprawl cut off his engines with a shudder as he was gently placed on the pavement.

 **"SPRAWL?"**

"Hnngh," Was his reply, "Their fighters got a lucky shot. Hit one of my fuel lines."

The top hatch to Sprawl's heavy turret opened, revealing the Stuntikids alive and well.

"Hey guys!" Ethan waved.

"Sprawl kept up his end of the bargain so you don't have to kill him." Samantha said as she hoisted herself and Zoey out of the wounded Elite. "Or at least he tried. Bridgette hit her head on the dashboard when Sprawl got hit with the stray tracer round. Got a pretty nice shiner."

Menasor looked at Bridgette, who was holding her hand on her temple where he could see a large bruise.

"Still hurts," she mumbled, "but I'm fine."

"The fighters are back, you guys!" Zoey pointed back, where they could see the remaining fighters zoom through the skyline right towards their location. Menasor let out a loud growl, reaching to pick up his sword and eviscerate them. Sprawl, however, beat him to the punch.

"Stuntikids, get out. Menasor, protect them." Sprawl ordered, drawing their attention. Quickly the humans left the Warrior Elite as he transformed into his anti-air tank form. The massive vehicle slowly turned its guns towards the incoming fighters, and the humans noticed that Sprawl's treads on his right side were leaking energon. Menasor gently put his hand in front of the Stuntikids to protect them from what the Warrior Elite was bound to do best. Sprawl might have been wounded, but he wasn't down for the count. He opened fire on the fighters, who didn't have enough time or space to evade the incoming hail of tracer rounds. Sprawl knocked them out of the sky left and right.

Menasor realized that when Sprawl meant _protect,_ he must have meant _protect them from the destroyed remains of my enemies._ Pieces of the fighters that Sprawl shot down rained on the streets in front of them, and thanks to their speed the Stuntikids might have been turned to roadkill were it not for Menasor's hand protecting them. With the last of the fighters gone and dead, Sprawl transformed back to robot mode.

"What the hell, dude?" Holly yelled at the Elite, "What was that all about?"

"Sorry, it was the only way to fight back without risking you as much as I already have."

 **"THANK YOU."** Menasor boomed.

"No problem." Sprawl turned his head to the only remaining ship left. "One last target."

"You'd think that after they'd seen their friends get wrecked they'd go, _Oh shit we gotta go Sprawl's here_ or something like that." Ethan said, but Sprawl wasn't listening. He kept his razor-thin optic visor on the Quintesson starship. While his hatred for the Quintessons was burning, the Warrior Elite didn't bother going after it for now. He would deal with it soon. Sprawl readied his railcannon and started walking.

"Where are you going now?" Bridgette asked.

"There are still Sharkticons running around in the city. Tell Megatron that the battle is won and return to the ship." Sprawl ordered, "And Stuntikids, thank you for your assistance. You've done well." And with that, he stalked off to hunt down more Sharkticons.

"Man, he does not give up does he?" Samantha whistled.

 **"YOU HEARD HIM. BACK TO THE _NEMESIS._ "**

* * *

 **YEET. I'm back you guys.**

 **Expect more updates soon.**


	10. Return to Sender

- _Chicago Police Department, or what remains of it-_

The Sharkticons had spared no mercy when they had rained down on the CPD headquarters. They had come like birds of prey swooping down for a kill. The police department had no idea what hit them. By the time they realized what was going on, it had already descended into chaos. Officers and Interceptors had tried their best to hold off the invasion but the Sharkticons were so numerous, like an avalanche of twisted alien metal. The CPD headquarters had been nearly demolished, burying those still alive under tons of rubble and debris. Right now the only thing that the survivors inside could do was try to get out.

Chief Delmer brushed her sweat-mopped hair for might have been the thousandth time as she pushed aside more debris from the ruined IT offices. Some were busy trying other ways to get out. Others were mourning for the loss of their friends and colleagues. The bodies that were found were laid underneath jackets, tarp or something else out of respect for the fallen.

"What do we do, chief?" Delmer turned her head to see a few officers looking at her. The woman that spoke to her had a cut on her forehead that was mottled with dried blood. She wasn't alone in her injuries. Many of the officers had been hurt when the Sharkticons came crashing down on them.

Delmer gave a quick sigh.

"We have to get out of here. The generator will only last us for so long until we run out of power, and even then there's those monsters outside. We don't know what's going on. My radio isn't working for some reason."

"Think it was those monsters?" An IT guy said, "It must be."

"For all we know we're the only ones alive," Delmer said, spooking a few of the people around her, "But we still have officers on the outside, and I'm not giving up. That's not our job. Protect and serve people, now let's find our way out of this mess."

"Listen," Someone said, looking at the ceiling, "Do you hear that?"

Everyone turned their heads to hear faint rumbling, like someone punching their way through the concrete. The battered remains of the CPD headquarters shook, the lights flickering on and off as the rumbling got louder. Delmer and the other officers noticed that the sound was coming right in front of them, where Delmer had been digging. She took a step back and readied her sidearm, prepared for anything that could happen. If it was one of those monsters that tried to kill her and was now coming to finish the job then she'd go down fighting.

"It's those things! They've found us!" One of the IT girls started panicking, cowering behind one of the officers.

"No, I don't think so," Delmer said, but readied her pistol just in case, "It sounds like there's only one person digging."

"Maybe one of the Interceptors is coming to save us!"

Their questions were answered when they saw what was digging in the rubble; a huge, mechanical _Velociraptor_ that burst through the concrete like a bomb, along with a boy riding its back. Delmer and some of the people closest to the burst zone had to shield themselves from the debris. Everyone else marveled at the sight of such a creature, and wondered if it was out to kill them like the other monsters out there. There was also an emblem of a red face on the right flank of the creature. The robot dinosaur shook off the dust from its body and took a couple steps forward.

"Is there a Chief of Police Sally Delmer here?"

And the last thing they expected it to do was to suddenly start talking. Delmer stood there, eyes widening in her skull when she heard the dinosaur start to talk. In fact, the rest of the CPD were sharing Delmer's attitude, staring on in wonder at the prehistoric metal monster in their midst.

"I said," It began talking again, "Is there a Sally Delmer here? C'mon, I know you humans can understand me."

"That's me," Delmer said, placing her pistol back in its holster, "I assume you're here to rescue us?"

"Yep! The name's Slash, and I'm a Dinobot," The _Velociraptor_ then transformed into a fifteen-foot tall humanoid, kneeling down to the humans in front of him and put the boy on his shoulder, "And this is Apache. He's with me. We're here to get you guys out of here safe and sound!"

"So cool! A dinosaur!" An IT person gushed out, his eyes glimmering, "It's like something out of _Jurassic Park!_ "

"Since when did we have metal dinos? Anyone actually wondering?" Another asked.

"How 'bout we just focus on getting out of here alive, eh?"

Slash lead the officers and IT workers out of the ruins of the Chicago Police Department with the boy Apache right behind him. It confused and intrigued the police chief that a teenager such as him would be working alongside the robot dinosaur, the Dinobot. There were plenty of questions that Delmer wanted to ask Slash but right now she didn't have the time. Slash reached back to his spine to pull out a long dark steel rifle with a jagged bayonet underneath. He put his hand out to stop the humans behind him from walking into a potential warzone.

"Stay close, I don't hear anything." Slash said, and put a hand to his head, "Yo Grim, you okay? You guys alive?"

 _"Yeah we're alive, same can't be said for these vile bastards."_ Grimlock responded, _"Prowl sent a team to patrol the area to see if we missed any of them."_

 _"Is that Slash? You guys found the humans?"_ Swoop came alive from his end of the Dinobot intercom.

"Yeah, I've got some, the Chief's alive too. A couple of them didn't make it." Slash said, finishing with a somber tone. The Dinobots knew that there was going to be a chance of humans getting killed in the firefight, but they had hoped that it didn't come to that. Yet humans had died anyway.

 _"Damn. Optimus ain't gonna be happy about that."_ Swoop said.

 _"Optimus can deal with dead humans, all of us can,"_ Slug finally started talking, surprising the others since he wasn't a fan of intercoms, _"Right now, we should focus on getting the survivors and killing the Sharkticons. We can mourn the dead later. They're not going anywhere."_

 _"Have a little bit of respect Slug, they didn't deserve their fate."_ The _Pterodactyl_ chastised his fellow Dinobot. The _Triceratops_ didn't bother to respond.

Slash and the surviving humans reached the end of the tunnel, where they were greeted by a sunny afternoon of devastation. The city surrounding the CPD had been thrashed by the invaders. Speaking of which, there were countless corpses of the mechanical monsters all around them. Hacked, torn, burnt, shot, all dead in various methods. And in that mess were a bunch of other robots. They weren't attacking, but it seemed like they had just finished fighting a battle. Looks like they won as well. Some of them were really tall, like the red and blue one and the one with a giant sword made of fire.

They also spotted some of the Interceptors, sitting down and licking their wounds. Maya and Arthur stood by Fives as he assessed the damage on Nines. Sadly, it seemed that a couple of the Interceptors had been lost in the fight. Six was pulling up a corpse of an Interceptor missing his legs and half his head, with the deceased Interceptor's human partners looking on in grief. It was apparent that they'd grown attached to their machine allies.

"Yo, Optimus!" Slash called out, waving a hand, "We got the humans out!"

"Excellent job, Slash. Good work on saving their lives. Any reports of casualties among the survivors?" Optimus asked as the humans dispersed to get medical aid. With the monsters gone they were safe to venture outside the ruins of the CPD without fear of being attacked.

"Some of them didn't make it." Slash said, which made Optimus grimace. He'd hoped that it didn't have to come to this. There were already too many casualties to begin with. Hearing that there were more was just more grievous.

"Excuse me, Optimus sir?" The Prime looked down to see the Chief of Police at his feet, "Chief Sally Delmer. Words can't describe how thankful we are for your help. Though some of us didn't make it, which is a horrendous tragedy, you guys managed to save the rest of us from getting killed. I salute you, sir." She said to the Prime, saluting to him.

"The honor is mine, Ms. Delmer." He gave his own salute as a sign of respect.

"How'd you guys find out about us anyway?" An IT guy asked. "Not that I'm complaining."

"It was these two brave officers and their construct that had informed us of the situation surrounding your police station," Optimus explained as he looked over to Maya, Arthur and Fives, "It seems the invaders deliberately destroyed your station to prevent any sort of retaliation. We came as fast as we could to rescue you."

"Thank you Optimus." Delmer said in earnest. Though if it hadn't been for the two rookies and Fives, she doubted that there would be as many survivors as there were now. She'd give them a promotion once this was over, even Fives.

"Prime!" Sideswipe yelled, "We've got something big coming!"

"More Sharkticons?" Slug asked, readying his flamethrowers. The humans immediately took cover where there was. Some of the officers and Interceptors raised their guns at whatever might come. The last thing they wanted was to die now. The Autobots grouped up, the Dinobots leading the front with Optimus while the others guarded the surviving humans. They pointed their weapons at the street corner, where they could hear heavy footsteps coming their way.

"What is it, some sort of super version of these little monsters?" Topspin asked.

"Don't know. Don't care. We shoot it anyway." Broadside said.

"Anyone else feeling like we're about to enter a boss battle?" Whirl mumbled to himself, but his fellow Wreckers heard it and turned to stare at the one-eyed helicopter. "What? I've been playing _Metroid Prime 2_. You can't blame me. It's a fun game."

Bulkhead groaned as he turned around, "Remind me to talk to Miko about hanging out with you."

The sounds came closer, and eventually the source of the footsteps came around the intersection. Turns out it wasn't a Sharkticon. Rather it would either be their best relief or worst nightmare. The Autobots and some of the humans felt their chests tighten and eyes widen when whoever was making those stomps finally revealed themselves.

"Hello, Autobots." Sprawl greeted, nodding towards the large group in front of him. His railcannon was smoking hot. "So, Wreckers and Dinobots and even Optimus himself, along with more of his loyal soldiers. You take this protection of the Earthlings seriously."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Grimlock asked, pointing his energon sword at his former nemesis. The rest of the Dinobots also aimed their weapons at him.

The Chicago Police Department and their Interceptors couldn't believe their eyes and optics. The sight of such a massive Decepticon sent many of them scurrying for cover, not wanting to get involved between the two factions.

"Who else would Megatron send to fight these creatures? Do you think she would let anyone else try to rule this planet other than herself? Earth belongs to the Decepticons, Grimlock. Whether you like it or not." The Warrior Elite responded, causing many of the Autobots to bristle in anger.

"Y'know I'm never gonna get used to calling the Slag-Maker a " _she",_ " Topspin said, "Even if she is smoking hot."

"This is so not the right time, Top." Sideswipe said to the Wrecker, who gave a shrug.

"I'm just sayin'."

Sprawl turned his attention to a particular femme in the crowd of Autobots. How long has it been since he had seen her, spoken to her? Since he had broken out of the Autobot base? Perhaps even longer. Sprawl knew that he and his sister could be considered as estranged siblings given their rocky relationship, but she was still his sister.

"It has been very long since we talked, hasn't it sister?" Sprawl said to Shadowraid, "Do you enjoy being an Autobot?"

"Far more than being a Decepticon." She spat back, "And no, I'm not going back. I've made my choice."

"Even if you face certain armageddon as an Autobot?"

"Yes. Mom and dad always said that we should own up to our words, so that's what I'm going to do. I'm an Autobot. Not a Decepticon."

"You've finally realized personal accountability," Sprawl said, and finished with, "I'm proud of you, sister. Even if your path is against mine."

Shadowraid made no further comment, but on the inside her mind was stirring. Her brother was certainly a sore subject for her and she was positive that he hated her guts for turning tail from the Decepticons, but hearing that he was in fact proud that she had made her decision on where she stands in the war rattled her. Did he still care about her, see her as family? After all he did, and what she did as well?

The sudden sounds of roaring jets filled the air. Sprawl and the Autobots realized that it was the human military finally answering the call to battle. Numerous fighter jets screamed across the sky, their weapons at the starship hovering above their city. They weren't alone as down the street came a platoon of armored vehicles and tanks, rolling over the many corpses of dead invaders, heading straight towards them. In front was a single humvee with a familiar portly human sitting in the passenger seat.

"Is that Fowler?" Broadside muttered, leaning forward with his hand above his optic visor.

"Ugh, that loser follows us _everywhere._ Doesn't he have a home?" Whirl said.

Even Optimus seemed surprised to see Fowler here. He'd thought that the agent had gone to the Pentagon to try and control the situation. The tanks and soldiers spread out to form a perimeter around the chrome and black Decepticon while medics came in to treat the wounded police. A couple of the surviving Interceptors went alongside their human partners.

"Prime! Good to see you're still in one piece." Fowler said as he exited the hummer and turned towards the Decepticon giant, "Got anything you want to explain, 'Con?"

"Agent Fowler, these creatures are not of Cybertronian origin, but rather of a different race. These are Sharkticons, a warrior class used by our species' ancient enemy; the Quintessons." Optimus explained to him. "On the contrary, Sprawl had nothing to do with these attacks."

"Sharkti _con_ , Decepti _con_. Sounds like the same to me, Prime." Fowler replied.

"I and my fellow Decepticons did not cause this carnage to your precious city, human." Sprawl said, "While the suffix of our names is the same, I assure you that Optimus is indeed telling the truth. We hate Sharkticons as much as any other Cybertronian should."

"And I should take your word for it over Prime's? Over my star-spangled shorts, Sprawl." Fowler shot back, surprising the Decepticon.

"Sir? What should we do?" A nearby soldier said to Fowler, aiming his G36. The rest of the soldiers were doing the same. Fowler turned his attention back to Sprawl, who hadn't moved an inch.

"Either way, you're coming with us. Unless you want a full taste of American firepower up your ass."

"Did-did Fowler just tell Sprawl to _surrender?_ Oh, that's a smart idea." Swoop said.

The nearby soldiers aimed their rifles and rockets at Sprawl. The tanks lowered their cannons at him as well. If he was scared, he didn't show it. The Autobots readied themselves in case Sprawl decided to go on a rampage. With a small human army and a large group of Autobots, Sprawl certainly had the numbers against him, but as a Warrior Elite he could certainly hold his ground.

"Yeah, that's not happening." Sprawl said, and turned to Optimus, "Don't think this changes anything. This planet is still full of relics, and they and this world shall be ours," Rather than unleash his arsenal, Sprawl jumped skyward being propelled by the boosters underneath his pedes. He transformed into his gunship form and took off towards the retreating _Nemesis,_ leaving the humans and Autobots in the dust.

"What now, sir?" Broadside said to Optimus, who watched the vanishing Warrior Elite take to the skies. The thunderclap of the second ship leaving the Chicago airspace caught their attention. The battle for Chicago was over.

"Autobots, return to base. Let the humans rebuild their city."

* * *

 _-The Nemesis-_

"You should have seen it! We were dodging and swerving all these laser beams and then _BAM!_ We shot the crap outta that ship and sent it straight into the lake! It was totally awesome!"

The Stunticons and the Stuntikids were in the mess hall relaxing and telling stories after today's battle. Other Decepticons including a few drones were getting their rations or just trying to waste the day away getting hammered. The table that the Stunticons sat on had been modified so that their human charges could climb up and face their guardians rather than have them pick them up and place them themselves. It was a bit of an inconvenience to ask any Decepticon around to help you get up and down somewhere.

"Sounds like you had a good time," Breakdown said through his energon cube.

"Damn straight!" Samantha said, swirling her Coors Light in her left hand. Despite being the same age as Ethan at sixteen she could somewhat hold her alcohol, a consequence of one too many street racing parties. Though today she was pushing that limit. Her face had the slightest hint of a blush and it looked like standing straight was getting difficult.

"Drag Strip, your human is getting, as the humans say it, _hammered._ Shouldn't you do something?" Dead End asked the Formula 1 racecar.

"Ah, let her have some fun. They deserve it!" Drag Strip waved off his gestalt member's worries as he watched Samantha down the rest of her beer. She crushed it by pressing it down on the table until it was nearly flat where it joined half a dozen other smushed cans.

The other members of the Stuntikids were having their own beverages too. Ethan, who was nervously watching Samantha, was sipping on a can of Coca-Cola thought a straw. Zoey had her usual watermelon-flavored Capri-Sun while Holly and Bridgette had black coffee and a glass of water respectively. Samantha was the only one who was a drinker, which many assumed Bridgette was too considering she was of legal age. Bridgette wasn't a fan of alcohol, never had been. Being a responsible, _and that was certainly stretching it_ , commander had nulled any desire for drinking.

The same couldn't be said for Samantha, who was now laughing up a storm as she recalled herself nearly falling off the chair when Sprawl blasted off to Chicago. Her tipsy mind thought it was the funniest thing ever since she was barely making any words underneath all that short, choking laughter.

"He-he went so fast!" Samantha leaned over and grabbed Ethan's shoulder almost making him spill his soda. He realized that she was using him for support so that she didn't fall down.

"Sammy maybe you should cut down on the drinking," Ethan's role as the team's medic coming around as he talked to Samantha.

"What? _Noooooo._ I feel good, E." Samantha said, facing her best friend and leaning in _way_ too close for comfort. Her breath reeked of cheap beer.

"You gonna take care of that, right?" Motormaster said to Drag Strip, whose massive size looked rather comical to the rest of his Stunticons sitting around and drinking.

"Do I boss you around about Bridgette?" Drag Strip snarked back.

"No, because I'd shove your legs down your gullet if you decide to," Motormaster replied, effectively shutting up Drag Strip.

Back at the entrance to the mess hall a familiar Warrior Elite entered. He like many of his comrades had needed some fuel for his tanks. Before he did that Sprawl decided to visit the Stunt table to say something to the five humans.

"Hey hey, look who's here!" Wildrider said, "Saw you totally wreck that ship Sprawl, some hot-aft stuff!"

"I appreciate your enthusiasm Wildrider, but before I go to get my own energon I'd like to speak to your charges first," The Warrior Elite said, which made the Stuntikids turn their attention to him. Even Samantha was listening despite being rather flushed.

"You did well, all of you." Sprawl extolled the Stuntikids, "Your bravery should be remembered."

"You already told us we did well," Samantha argued, her addled brain working her mouth as she pointed to the massive Decepticon, "You big silly-billy. Big silly-billy Sprawl. Ha ha ha."

The Warrior Elite was both confused and a little concerned with how Samantha was acting, tilting his head to the side. He noticed the cans surrounding her on the table. A quick scan and a search on the human internet revealed them as cheap alcoholic beverages.

"Is she... okay?" Sprawl asked.

"She's _fine._ Sammy's just celebrating." Drag Strip said, getting tired of people being so nosy about his charge. He'd take care of her, dammit!

" _HUUUUUUURK!_ "

" _Aaaaand_ she just threw up," Zoey said, scrunching her nose from the smell. Samantha coughed up whatever bile was still stuck her mouth onto the table. Dead End instantly put as much distance between him and Samantha as much as he could. Wildrider couldn't believe how much the human girl had vomited, her face a mixture of curiousity and disgust.

"Alright," Ethan said, walking over to Samantha and pushing her up, "let's get you back to your room, Sammy."

All Samantha did was groan out a "yeah", and since she was pretty messed up now, she let Ethan sling her arm over his shoulder to carry her to her room.

"So much for just celebrating, right Stripper?" Wildrider nudged her brother-in-arms while he mumbled curses into his engex.

Sprawl left them. Yet another day in the life of the Stunticons.

...

Meanwhile in the command bridge of the _Nemesis_ Megatron and her lieutenants watched a human broadcasting channel depicting their military battling the lone ship that remained. Without any sort of backup, it was sure to fall to the human's might. Surprisingly they left her Decepticons alone for now, more likely because the new invaders were more urgent than her. While her and the Decepticons were known to the human commanders, the public was still mostly in the dark. Even then, she knew that one day there would be no disguises. No mercy.

It might be time for the world to know of their presence.

"Soundwave had deduced a thirty-two percent chance of our revelation to the Earth's masses on this continent, my Lady." Turmoil said, also watching the news. "This could bring us trouble once we start searching for more relics."

"Oh please Turmoil, the human armies are nothing but _bugs_ compared to our might," Starscream bragged, leaning back on his chair, "You shouldn't fear them."

"It is logical to assume that human government will try to interfere with the population, to keep us from being revealed too much to the public," Shockwave said, "However, I recommend that we rapidly continue our search for the lost relics located on Earth before the situation becomes more dire."

Megatron gave it some thought. Shockwave was correct. They needed to get as many relics as they could before the Autobots could acquire them.

"How about we ask our resident humans what they think? They'd probably have a better idea than us when it comes to human stuff," Starscream wondered out loud, and realized that everyone else was staring at him.

"What?"

Turmoil turned to Megatron, "That's not a bad idea, My Lady."

"Good call Starscream. Soundwave, invite the Stuntikids for a very important meeting."

...

"So, what? You guys need our help to understand what's going on?" Bridgette asked with Ethan, Holly and Zoey next to her. Samantha was back in her room, sleeping the day away recovering from her heavy drinking. Ethan had made sure to clean her off and give her plenty of water before she went to bed. Right now the Stuntikids were on the meeting table, looking up at the Decepticons in front of them.

Starscream, who was still sitting down, was busy looking at his sharpened fingers. Not like he cared about the human Decepticons.

"A presumptuous question, girl. We require insight on what your human governments will do if we are revealed to the masses of Earth." Shockwave said to the Stuntikid commander.

"I doubt that. It would be really stupid for them to do," Holly said, "I say we continue with what we do best; lay low and get the relics before the Autobots do. Even if they decide to tell the world that we exist, who's going to be hit harder, us or the Autobots? They've got the government on their side, and they need their trust to even _be_ on Earth in the first place, right? So it'd be a loss for them, but not for us."

"That's right. We live on a spaceship." Ethan said to her.

"Plus the relics aren't government sanctioned, so it's still anyone's game. We can take 'em if we want, not like anyone but Optimus and his gang are stopping us in the first place." Holly continued.

Shockwave took this information with ease. Holly had spoken the truth. If the human governments told the world the only ones who would be really affected would be the Autobots, not the Decepticons. He also speculated that the populations would lose faith in their governments and turn against their own administrative power, causing mass chaos and pandemonium.

"The Stuntikids are correct." The scientist told Megatron.

"So we continue as planned," Megatron said, "We shall hunt down the relics hidden beneath the Earth, and no one shall stop us. You are dismissed, except for you commander." The warlord leered down to Bridgette. The rest of the Stuntikids were worried that she was in trouble. Normally a one-on-one meeting with Megatron was a bad omen.

"Don't fret, your esteemed leader is not in danger." Megatron noticed the looks that they had, "She's going to fulfill a request that I want her to do."

"Go on, humans. Your Master commands it." Starscream said as they walked out of the room, Shockwave following them.

"I shall be in my laboratory for the time being. The study of the Skyboom Shield is currently underway. I wish to complete it." He said to Megatron.

"See to it that you do, Shockwave."

The scientist bowed his head and left, trailing the Stuntikids. As soon as the door was closed Bridgette focused her attention on to her master now that she was alone with her, Soundwave and Starscream. Said spymaster was idly watching in silence like he usually does while Starscream had finally started to get interested. He was simply hoping that the assumption that the human wasn't in trouble was a lie. He tapped his fingers together like a metronome.

"So, what do you want?" She nonchalantly asked. "You've got me here for a reason, don't you?"

Starscream instantly shot up, "You arrogant child! Show your master some respect!"

"Or what, you gonna make me jet breath?" She snarked back at him. Starscream's left optic twitched madly.

"Why, if you weren't Motormaster's charge I'd-!"

"That's enough, Starscream. Quit making a fool of yourself," Megatron admonished the seeker, "I would know disrespect when I see it. Now sit down."

"Y-Yes, master," Starscream mumbled as he sat down, sending a glare to Bridgette as he did. She stuck out her tongue in response.

"As for your question girl, I in fact do have a reason for you being here." Megatron explained, grasping Bridgette off the table into her hand. "The agency known as Sector Seven has been on my mind for some time now. It is clear to me that they have access to Cybertronian technology, most likely relics dug up from their own exploits. You yourself revealed the extent of their secrecy with the reactivation of Infernocus. If Sector Seven has been around long enough under the guise of the human governments, then they are bound to have more relics in their grasp."

"And this is where I come in?"

Megatron grinned down at her, and Bridgette felt a cold chill crawl up her spine. No matter how long she'd lived on the _Nemesis_ seeing Megatron smile would always be a terrifying sight. It didn't help that her denta looked sharper than before, highlighted by her black lips.

"You catch on quickly human. I expected no less from the intelligent charge of Motormaster." Megatron said, "Your part involves sneaking into their base and allowing Soundwave to access their databanks. It will give us the location of every relic they have across the globe."

Bridgette gave it some thought.

"Wait, how would I even get in there in the first place? Sector Seven tried to imprison me before, so they know who I am. And I don't have any clothes that scream _stealthy_."

"Which is why you'll be getting a redecoration from our esteemed assistant doctor," Megatron responded right as the doors opened with Knockout strolling in holding a small metal box in his right hand, "Ah, Knockout. Just in time."

"Pardon me my Lady, I was just getting a few things ready for our star human." Knockout said, sounding way too happy. The warlord placed Bridgette back down on the table, letting the girl off with a hop. The box he was holding was filled with something that Bridgette couldn't see, but she had a feeling she knew what lay inside.

"Oh how I have been waiting for this day for so long!" Knockout giddily said while slamming the box down, "Now that your guardians aren't here to rip me a new one, I get to have my way with you."

"Your _way with me?_ " The Stuntikid raised an eyebrow at the mad doctor.

"Of course! Now be a good human and strip for me."

"Strip? For what?!" She yelled at him while shielding her unmentionables. Knockout reached inside and pulled out a pair of military uniforms.

"To test your new outfits on, what else? Do you really think I'd pass up the opportunity to glam you up for your stealth job?"

No wonder he was so damn happy when he walked in, he was going to redress her for her next mission. It didn't surprise her that Megatron turned to Knockout rather than her own guardian. Motormaster never really cared about clothing or what sort of style Bridgette had, plus her own wardrobe was lacking in anything that was remotely stealthy. Rock band shirts and cargo pants aren't exactly made for blending in. Knockout opened the box to reveal that it was filled to the brim with human clothing, ranging from dark colored suits to utility worker attires. Knockout turned to Megatron, holding the pair of clothing right next to Bridgette for comparison.

"Now which one do you think fits better, my Lady? Ebony or jet-black?"

Megatron gave a wide grin.

"I think we should let our human commander try them on for her sake. Don't want any problems on the job now do we?"

Knockout got the message immediately, and so did Bridgette.

"You're absolutely right, my Lady," The assistant doctor tossed the uniforms to Bridgette, "You heard our master. Put on a show for us. If they don't fit I'll get you a fresh one to wear."

"B-But," Bridgette stammered, mortified at the situation of her having to strip in front of Megatron, Knockout, Soundwave and _Starsceam,_ "I can't put this on with you all staring at me!"

"Oh yes, what a shame you'll have to show your grotesque human body to us Cybertronians." Starscream sneered, getting back at her for all the smack talk earlier.

"Time's wasting, human. The longer you stay here, the worse this will be for you." Megatron said, clearly enjoying her tormenting of the human in front of her.

Bridgette groaned, knowing that there was no way out of this.

"Oh, fuck me."


End file.
